


RWBY Mafia

by Lordxana0



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Gen, Modern AU, Violence, mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:05:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10866735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lordxana0/pseuds/Lordxana0
Summary: The city of Vale is filled with corruption and crime, but despite that it functions due to the control of the three great criminal factions, the Rose Family, the Junpier Collective, and the Ash Corporation. These three keep each other in check and prevent all out war from raging. But a storm is coming that will change the balances of power, and most likely throw all that was built into chaos.





	1. Chapter 1

The city of Vale, a cesspit of crime and corruption the likes of which the world has never seen before. The law of the street comes from the lips of the heads of the various Mafia families, and anyone that crosses them ends up at the bottom of a ditch. Corruption of all kinds can be found around any corner, sex, drugs, guns, explosives, terrorism, and any crime that is looked down upon thrives in the city like well-kept plants.

Ruling the dark city are three powerful organizations, each of which is locked in a stalemate with and against each other, dividing up the city for their own gains.

The Rose Family: one of the first true Mafia families to rise to power in Vale back when the city was first being raised from the ground. They fiercely protect their territory like wolves, tearing apart any who cause trouble. They are controlled by a group of four women, each dangerous in their own right.

The Juniper Collective: a collection of weaker families who came together in order to survive the city, and rose to power quickly by combining their strengths into one. One leader is elected by familiar relations and answers to the other heads of the families while still maintaining de facto control over the Collective.

And finally, the Ash Corporation: one of the most dangerous entities within the city. No one really knows why the massive corporation has a stake in the city with their more international markets, but hired goons flock under the Corporations banner to topple control of the city away from the Mafia families until it is the only being left standing.

Although it is a time of relative peace for the city, there is gunpowder waiting to go off; each group is simply waiting for the spark that will set off a war.

* * *

The bell rang signaling the end of the school day and the freedom for each of the students inside of the class. The teacher tried to bring order long enough to remind the students of their assignments, but the teenagers were more interested in returning to their homes or enjoying their free time to listen.

A smallish girl with black hair and grey eyes walked over to a small group of girls and gave them a grin. "Man I thought today would never end, it was all like," she brought up her hands in imitation of mouths. "Blah blah blah need for your future, blah blah blah college." She made a pained face and shook her head.

"Yeah," one of the other girls sighed and checked her phone. "Oh man, I just got a message, there is going to be a rave tonight at the abandoned car factory, you girls in?"

A few of the collected girls muttered their agreements in excited tones, but the raven haired girl shook her head. "Can't, I have work tonight."

The girls groaned and one spoke up. "Come on Ruby, you need to stop being such a goody goody and live a little. Can't you get the night off?"

"Ha, yeah that will happen about the same time pigs fly and you get a date with an actual boy," Ruby gave a wink at the girl and the group laughed a bit at her joke. A sudden ringing sound from Ruby's pockets made her quickly moved toward her cell phone, taking it and seeing the call wasn't coming from it. Which meant it was her other phone. She sighed and gave a wave to the girls. "See you guys later!" she made a quick exit from the classroom and pulled out her second cellphone, a gunmetal grey flip phone with an insignia of two scythes on its front. She flipped it open and her lively voice grew dull. "This is Rose, what's going on?"

"You're meeting with the Beowolves today, or did you forget?" the voice on the other end was old and full of patience with a bit of a joking tinge to it.

Ruby gave a grunt before walking out of the front doors of the school, walking toward a limo that was waiting for her out front. She opened the door for herself and slid in, closing the door. "Other things on my mind."

The driver turned off his own cell and smiled back toward her. His hair was grey and his features implied that he was advanced in age. "Some special guy or girl?"

Ruby blushed and waved her hands in front of her. "N-nothing like that, don't be creepy Ozpin!"

Ozpin laughed and started up the limo, taking it onto the road. "It does my heart well to know that you can still be a normal person despite our lifestyle, or maybe that is just how your generation does things."

She gave a grunt as a reply. "Did you bring me a change of clothes?"

"Under your seat, along with a little present from our friends in the Juniper Collective." Ozpin rolled up the window between the front and back of the limo so Ruby could change in peace.

Ruby's face lit up like a bulb as she moved off her seat and pulled it up, revealing her usual outfit with a rather beautiful gun laying atop it. "And people say Jaune doesn't know how to get a ladies attention." She picked up the weapon and tested its weight in her hand, ejecting the clip and going over it. Once it was given a look over she changed into her usual clothing, a black blouse and a skirt with red trimmings, which felt a lot more natural than the uniform. "Stupid private schools." She knocked on the side of the wall to let Ozpin know she was dressed.

"So will you need me to join you for this little meeting?" Ozpin asked as he turned the corner. "I have heard these gentlemen aren't exactly upstanding members of society, even in our business."

"I have been able to handle myself since I was a little girl, a few overgrown dogs don't scare me." She picked up the gun and noticed an inscription along the side of it. "'Crescent Rose', hm?" she stored the gun in a hidden holster under her skirt.

The limo finally stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse in one of the shadier neighborhoods. Despite all the work by the city council to try and beautify the city there were some places the dirt was just stuck too. The southern parts of the city happened to be one of those places. Buildings far past their primes somehow stood defiant against the tests of time, housing the lowest of the low within society.

Ozpin got out of the car and opened the door for her, allowing Ruby to step out onto the dusty streets. "Be careful."

"Stop worrying so much, you are going to hurt yourself," Ruby gave the older man a salute before walking into the warehouse.

Inside of the old building twenty young men of various races and statures either sat or stood, all eyes turning to Ruby the second she walked in. "You Rose?" one of them asked, standing up and walked toward the much smaller girl. He was tall and built like a mountain, a number of tattoos clear against his skin.

"Ruby Rose, head of the Rose family. I am glad you could all make it here today." Ruby looked up to the larger man with a bored expression. She had seen his type a thousand times. Acted tough in order to look strong for the rest of the pack, but probably hadn't even done more than draw blood before.

"Well, what the fuck do you want then?" the man said with venom in his voice. "I don't like being called out by some half-pint brat who wants to play cops and robbers."

Ruby's eye twitched and she simply looked up at the man in silence. "Do you have cigarettes on you?"

The man blinked in confusion, expecting her to cower, or get angry, something other than ask him for a cig. "What?"

"Cigarettes, fags, nicotine sticks, whatever you want to call them," she scanned the room and pointed toward one of the men. "That guy must have a pack; tell him to give me one."

"Uh… Give her a cigarette," the man said, not really sure what to do in this situation. The other man stood up and handed it over to her.

Ruby looked over it and her lip curled. "Man, this is one of the cheap brands. For a gang, you don't seem to command much respect," she paused for a moment. "Are you going to give me a light or do you plan for me to sit here with an unlit cig all night?"

The leader felt rage building up in his body, but all the same pulled out a lighter and flicked it on. "Here."

Ruby looked at him dully. "I am _not_ going to reach up to get a light. Bring it down."

The man was on the verge of just taking a swing and the demanding younger woman, but instead brought the lighter down to spark the cigarette. "There, happy?"

"Overjoyed," Ruby idly moved the cigarette between her fingers. "Now, I want to tell you a secret. Lower your head down so I can whisper in your ear."

The man looked to the other gang members, who seemed just as confused as he was. All the same he lowered his head down for her, bending his body a bit.

Ruby leaned forward and brought her mouth right next to his ear. "Don't insult me." She stabbed the lit end of the cigarette into the man's eye, causing him to scream. As a follow up she sent her foot directly into his knee, causing a loud noise to ring out as the bone broke with the impact of her boot against him.

The man fell, screaming in pain as the rest of the men began to pull out knives, bats, or chains. "You are going to wish you hadn't done that." One of them called out.

She gave them each a warm smile and put her arm out in front of her, waving for them to come forward with a confident stance.

Ten of the men charged at her with their weapons, intent on hurting the girl who had taken down their boss. Their swings didn't have any sort of grace to them; they fought using strength only and relied on their larger size to help them.

They never stood a chance.

Ruby dodged each blow aimed at her, dancing around their strikes as if they were nothing more than flies. She reached into her skirt and pulled out an extendable baton, striking joints and causing them to either drop their weapons or fall in pain as the metal struck their bodies.

She turned and saw the leader starting to get up and jumped back, landing in front of him and bringing her boot down on the back of his head, sending his face into the stone cold ground and slowly grinding her boot into his skull. "Listen up assholes, this is how things work," She tossed her baton out and pulled out the gun Jaune had gifted her. "At the very top of the food chain are the Mafia families, under us are the minor crime families, under them are the cops, and under them are _you_." She cocked the gun and aimed down. "You are lower than dirt to us, worms that serve no purpose other than to be used for whatever we need to use you for." She pressed down harder on the man's skull until she heard his nose break and saw the blood began to pool under her.

Needless to say the other men were scared shitless at the moment. A few minutes ago they had believed themselves to be the biggest and baddest people in the city, and they had just been laid low by a single girl who was half their size and looked like she would still need a training bra.

"If any of you _worms_ decide that it would be a good idea to cross us again remember something for me," Ruby pulled the trigger three times, shooting the downed man in the heart and feeling the fight go out of him as death took over. "Let's not have this lesson repeat, gentlemen. If I find out you are cutting into my protection services again, I am going to send all of you on a first class trip to hell to join your buddy here."

With that done she turned her back and left the scene, pulling out her flip phone and sending a text to one of the local Cleaners to get out and take care of the body. It wouldn't do to have a body for the cops to sniff at. Cops meant bribes, and she didn't feel like wetting the pockets of any of those people today.

Ozpin waited outside for her, reading a newspaper while keeping an eye on the limo. When he saw Ruby coming he politely opened the door for her. "Where shall we go now?"

Ruby considered that for a moment. "Let's hit up an ice cream store, I have the strangest desire for cookie dough ice cream." She slid into the limo and Ozpin closed the door.


	2. W

Like any city, Vale runs on money. When it comes to a cesspool like Vale, the more money you have, the better. To that end, large corporations buy and sell the city in parts and sections, taking control away from any politician dumb enough to cross them and using the Mafia's influence to help place in their own people. To this end each of the three leading groups within Vale each have their own corporate influence on their sides.

The Schnee Corporation aids the Rose family, providing them with money and control. The company was started by one of the town's founders, a shrewd businessman who turned a simple mining operation into a booming city that no recession could touch. The first's greed lead to him allying himself with criminals for more power, more control; with their help the Rose family became the first Mafia to rise within Vale.

Following as a close second to the Schnee Corporation's might is Valkyrie Innovations, a small startup company that was created by a group of impressionable young people out of college. Within a decade the company became a leading researcher in weapons and technology. However, most of the original founders were killed in various accidents which many assumed to be caused by someone on the inside. It is now controlled by a single CEO and a board of directors. They supply the Juniper Collective with weapons and ammo, and in return the current CEO gets kicks and a nice position within the Collective.

And finally the Ash Corporation, an out of town Mega Corporation that controls so many different aspects that even most of those of high standing in the company couldn't begin to list them. The power they wield through their money is amazing, but even all of their money can't buy off those families living within Vale.

Criminals live by an invisible code of honor, and one part of the code is this. You can stab your best friend in the back, but you can't be paid to do it. This code is law, and to the Mafia its own laws are unbreakable.

* * *

For Weiss, it was the same dream night after night. The dream of her fist kill.

She was a little girl, no more than seven, pampered and doted on like a princess in a castle. Being the daughter of one of the most successful and reaching corporations in the entire city, she fit into the criteria more than most. Servants, toys, clothes: she had anything and everything that her little heart could desire. Except for one night, her father had sent all of their servants out and she had woken up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. When she had traveled down the halls she heard someone cry out in pain. The voice was small and Weiss was able to pick up whose it was instantly. Winter was crying somewhere, and she sounded afraid.

Weiss followed the voice down the halls, coming to a room that was cracked open only a bit and what she saw inside still stayed with her to this day. Her father and her sister were on the bed, without any clothing at all. Her sister was crying out as her father did something to her that at the time she didn't understand. The little girl gave out a cry and her father turned, anger in his eyes, shouting at her.

To this day she didn't know why instead of running away she walked into the room. But she did. Her father got up and yelled at her to leave, but Weiss simply stood there like a deer caught in a driver's headlights. Her father smacked her across the face, the first time he had ever laid a hand on her and demanded she leave.

And Weiss did, walking out with a bruised cheek and a collapsed world view. Her body led her to her father's normal room, and saw the gun lying atop the nightstand. Her father had taken Weiss and Winter shooting from time to time, so she knew how to use it. In her dazed state, she took the gun and checked to see it was loaded, flipping the safety off and walking back to the room like a zombie.

When she opened the door again her father turned, but before he could say a word there was a bullet hole created between his eyes, and a smoking gun in the small girl's hand. Her father died instantly, and she remembered her sister screaming.

The young Weiss laughed loudly as she watched blood pour from her father's head, seeping brain matter mixed with the crimson liquid upon the bed sheets. Tears ran down her face, but didn't decrease her mad laugh.

That was the night Weiss had first killed. The night Weiss became an orphan. And it was the night she took her first step down a dark road.

* * *

Weiss woke up covered with sweat and breathing hard, the same way she always woke up from these sorts of dreams. "Damn," she whispered to herself, blindly patting down her nightstand until she found her cigar case, opening it and pulling out one of the high quality imported cigars and lighting it, taking a deep breath of the fumes. She had started cigars about a year ago, and it had only been a matter of time before it had become a habit for her. She didn't bother to finish the cigar; after a few puffs from it she was more than ready to begin the day, putting it out in a waiting ashtray made of pure platinum. With a deep yawn she pushed the remaining blankets off of her, stretching her body a bit and walking toward her personal bathroom.

Inside of the bathroom was every bit of finery that could be imagined: a multifaceted shower, an advanced toilet that could analyze her diet and suggest changes just by scanning her stool, and a number of hidden speakers to play whatever music she felt like listening to while she bathed. Today she decided on classical, listening to the gentle music as she shed off her night clothes and stepped into the shower, allowing the pressure of the water to remove the aftereffects of the dream. After about twenty minutes of cleaning she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself, walking back into her room with a sigh of contentment.

Waiting in her room was a blue haired man in a rather nice looking suit, the kind that would normally be reserved for weddings or some other special event. It was mandatory dress ware for her top bodyguards. "You decided to sleep in." the man said, not bothering to look up from the book he was reading to steal a glance at her body.

"Is that a sin now?" she asked, tossing the towel off and grabbing a nearby dress she had put up to wear today.

"If it is, you can add it to the list of other sins we commit and give the devil more reason to burn us in hell," the man smirked and closed the book. "Were you smoking in here?"

"Yes. Make sure to have a maid come in and remove the smell once we are gone," Weiss finished putting on her dress and turned her head. "Zip up the back, if you would."

The blue haired man stood up and went to work pulling up the zipper. "Right. So this meeting today, are we going in as the Mafia or business?"

"Company business. My fellow board members might not have a great amount of control over my decisions, but even I can't talk them away from a mysterious meeting with the Ash Corporation." She sighed and walked to a mirror, examining her dress with a smirk. It was white, a theme she quite enjoyed. The only thing she would enjoy more was staining it with the blood of the man she was going to be forced to meet today, but even someone like her couldn't have everything.

The man let out a deep sigh. "Man, I hope that freaky girl isn't there… I'm pretty sure she is the only woman in the world looking at me and thinking about wearing me as a skin suit and not about having me in bed."

Weiss allowed herself a smirk at that. "Are you implying that I think of bedding you every time I look at you, Mr. Vasilias?"

The man coughed into his hand. "No, nothing like that; and please, it's Neptune. Calling me something like 'Mr. Vasilias' makes me feel like an old man."

"Well, _Mr. Vasilias_ , you will just have to become accustomed to it I suppose," Weiss walked toward the door and Neptune quickly opened it for her.

Standing outside of the room was another man in an equally dapper suit, however the man's tie was in disarray and he wore a pair of sunglasses and was munching on a banana. "Hiya boss." The man gave a wave to the pair.

"Good morning Mr. Wukong, I see you are taking your duties as serious as ever." Weiss continued walking and the two men fell in line behind her.

"Well if I went and started being all serious now you would expect it from me all the time, and then it would just be impossible to slack off." The blonde haired man grinned and nudged Neptune. "You already got a stiff right here; need to balance out your team with a funny guy."

Neptune rolled his eyes. "You know the funny one always dies first in the movies Sun, maybe you should consider pulling it back before you become a statistic."

The two continued to bicker until they reached a waiting car outside of the house, a large black car with diplomatic plates Weiss had gotten from blackmailing a few dignitaries here and there. Neptune opened the door for her and Sun circled around. Weiss slid into the middle and both of the men sat on either side of her, ensuring that no one would have a clear shot at her from the sides.

The driver started the car and drove in silence; they knew their job and also knew they were expendable.

"So Neptune I was checking out stocks yesterday, and I think I finally found my retirement plan." Sun grinned and rubbed his hands together.

"Is this like the thing with the horses?" Neptune asked with a shudder. "Because if it's like the thing with the horses I am going to have to ask that you don't explain it to me and just stop."

Sun let out a grunt of annoyance. "Hey, if I knew that the stuff was flammable I wouldn't have bothered having it installed in the barn, fuck me man can't you ever let anything go?"

"When it comes to me losing about twenty large on a joint venture because you didn't bother paying for professional contractors and just hired a bunch of illegals to do the job for you, then yes." Neptune glared at his partner.

Sun raised his hands, trying to deflect the fight before it came. "Okay, whatever, I fucked up, I admit it. But this plan is foolproof!"

"Fine, go on." Neptune looked out the window as they drove, but still readied himself for whatever his friend was going to say.

Sun grinned wide and rubbed his hands together with a snicker. "Okay, so there is this pretty small business that just opened up stocks, they're going to be designing this new pink coloring dye for food that is like the brightest pink in the world, and they have the patent for the mixture. I figure, if I buy up stocks now I can ride them until the next thing comes along and dump them before the prices fall."

"That actually isn't a half bad plan." Weiss commented, having been too busy doing something with her smartphone to have joined in earlier.

Sun smirked and crossed his arms. "See? Even the boss agrees with me!"

"I agree because I already bought stock in the company, or at least an alias did. I plan to buy out the company from within and get their patent. I have uses both in the company and out on the streets for it. A few of our people in R&D believe the process to creating the coloring could enhance our current output of more designer drugs, which can only raise our profits at this point." Weiss smirked. "I would have to ask you to stay out of this, Mr. Wukong."

Sun visibly deflated and sighed. "So close."

The car finally stopped at the entrance to an underground parking lot for a massive skyscraper with the Ash Corporations name high above the streets for all to see. Their car was driven through a large x-ray machine to determine if there were any weapons within, but it was found clear and they were allowed to park at the spot that had been left open to them.

The three passengers got out and the driver pulled out a music player and put earbuds in, content to just stay in the car and relax.

The three were led by two armed guards to a security checkpoint before they could walk in. "We are going to need any weapons you might have on you." A large man wearing a security badge on his shirt said.

Sun sighed and reached into the holster on his belt, placing his gun down on the table. Neptune did the same with two guns and a flash bang grenade.

Weiss looked at the man with a dull stare. "I have no such weapons on me, that's why I pay to have bodyguards."

"We are still gonna need to wand you Ms. Schnee, policy." Two other guards came toward them with metal detector wands and slowly began to scan over the two males.

When they turned toward Weiss she smirked at them. "You best be careful, who knows what accidently touching me might cause." The words were conversational but laced with enough suggestion that the guards did the job quickly and got away from her.

After that they were escorted to an elevator and taken to one of the uppermost floors, lead down a blank hallways and lead into a large meeting room. Sitting on the other end of a large desk was a man with bright orange hair and wearing a suit that looked much more natural on him then the suits of Weiss's bodyguards. Atop his head was a bowler hat, positioned in such a way that it covered his eyes. Standing behind him where two large men with guns in their holsters, but with zero attempt to hide them. "So you finally arrived, a pleasure to meet you Weiss Schnee," the man smiled wolfishly and looked up at her, as if trying to appraise her.

"I wish I could return the compliment, but I could live a long and happy life without ever meeting you Mr. Torchwick." Weiss looked at Neptune and he nodded, pulling out her chair so she could sit comfortably.

"Please, call me Roman," the man leaned back in the chair and laced his fingers together. "No need for formality between friends."

"Enough of the pleasantries," Weiss looked at the man dully, not a single emotion on her face. "I am here as CEO of the Schnee Corporation. Make your pitch Mr. Torchwick, my time is more valuable than the lives of you and everyone else in this building," Weiss took out her phone and began to tap something into it. "I will apologize for having my phone out during our talks through, focusing on one thing is how a strong company collapses."

"I suppose I can respect that, so since you want to save time I will cut to the chase," Roman leaned forward and looked at her, all of the jokiness falling out of his voice. "The Ash Corporation wants to buy your company from you."

Weiss paused and looked at Roman, blinking for a moment but staying silent.

"Now I know you are thinking, 'I have more money than I could ever use in a thousand lifetimes'. And, well, that might be true, but we are willing to go out of our way to make this sale happen." Roman snapped his fingers and one of the guards picked up a briefcase, putting it on the table and opening it so Weiss could see inside. "Those are a few islands my boss is willing to sell you, along with a few untraceable bank accounts loaded with enough money to make a banker blush, and a number of cards that will get you basically anywhere you want," Roman's grin never left for a moment. "All you have to do is sell to us and step down as CEO. That's all."

For a full minute there was silence, and then Weiss began to laugh under her breath, slowly building to a mocking crescendo before she finally managed to calm herself down. "You people are pathetic." She finally stated.

"You shouldn't discount our offer so quickly, little girl," Roman's smile dipped and his eyes burned with hatred. "Things in this city are going to be changing, and the Ash Corporation is giving you an out right now."

Weiss held up two fingers. "Two things about your little opportunity. The first being that if I were connected to any criminal trades then betraying them would end with me dying in a shallow grave, and no amount of money follows you into the afterlife."

"And your second point?" Roman asked calmly.

Weiss looked deep into the man's eyes and frowned. "I would rather slit my own wrists then work with the Ash Company. There is criminal and there is evil, and one doesn't make good business by finding themselves next to monsters."

Roman smirked at that and shook his head. "Suppose I say that I won't let you walk out of here without a yes?" the two men to his side began to reach for their weapons.

That was a mistake.

Sun reached behind him and pulled out a pair of wooden nunchucks, belting out a battle cry and leaping over the table to deliver a painful blow to the left guard's neck and knock him out. The second guard simply blinked in confusion. Whether the confusion of the nunchucks or the fact his partner had just gotten taken down was debatable.

"The ancient art of the nunchaku might be lost on people these days, but those who master this weapon are deadlier than anyone else in the world." Sun wiped his nose and began to bounce back and forth on the balls of his feet, pulling off a number of complicated maneuvers with the nunchucks before taking a pose. "Want to try your luck?"

Roman looked at the man and raised an eyebrow, before turning to Weiss. "You know I have always meant to ask where you people find these guys."

"It is a mystery even to me," Weiss rolled her eyes and looked to Roman. "So do you still intend to stop us from leaving?"

The man shrugged and pulled out a cigarette. Any pretense of a civil conversation had already flown out the door, so he didn't mind lighting up. "Even if you killed me you wouldn't make it out of this building alive."

"That is true," Weiss admitted before bringing up her phone, which showed a constantly ticking timer with five minutes on it. "But if I died, then your entire building will be destroyed by the explosives in the trunk of my car."

Roman's eyes went wide. "You're bluffing; the X-ray would have picked up any explosives in your car."

Weiss tapped the screen and crossed her legs. "Call your people to confirm."

Roman pulled out his phone and made a quick call. "Check the Schnee's car; I need you to confirm…" his face went pale. "Don't attempt to touch it, just… Fuck, stay back." He ended the call and glared at her.

"Military grade cloaking materials in the trunk, designed to fool even the most advanced scans," Weiss stood up and waved for her two bodyguards to follow. "Good day Mr. Torchwick."

Roman grunted and shook his head. "You have set yourself up for a world of hurt little girl, there is a storm coming and your ass is right in the path."

"I suppose I will have to find a way to weather it." The three exited the room, going back to their car without any trouble.

Neptune looked to Sun and raised an eyebrow. "Nunchucks?"

"Hey, I don't exactly have a lot of nonmetal weapons, I improvised." Sun shrugged.

Weiss allowed herself a brief smile. "Driver, take us home. I do believe a meeting should be called."

If there was indeed a storm calling then Weiss would make sure that the storm would be aimed at the Ash Corporation. Nothing was going to stand in her way, and in that essence the way of the Rose Family.


	3. B

Even among criminals there are laws. Laws handed down from each generation to the next, creating codes of conduct for which true Mafia families must follow. To this end each family hires the best and brightest of those who study the law to act as their legal team.

Those who run the legal sections of the family are feared even above the Family Head, for they have the power to override any order if it goes against the main laws of the family. They also act as buffers between the law and the family, destroying any cases against their members and making sure that the world legal system means nothing to them.

For the Juniper Collective there is Lie Ren: a master of spinning any situation to his needs, even with the cases stacked against him. In the courtroom the quiet man gains a whole new persona, becoming someone that with a single look could cause a witness to clam up or lie through their teeth. He was hired by Valkyrie Innovations after his first law firm fired him in order to prevent a PR scandal from one of the hirer ups. His loyalty remains with the CEO of the company, but as long as her interests lie with the Collective he remains loyal.

The Ash Corporation's legal team marks itself somewhere in the thirties in terms of size, each person a powerhouse in the courtroom and without the slightest idea of the word mercy. Standing above them is the Corporation's fixer, Roman Torchwick. No one knows if he ever actually attended law school, but the man has a certain way of twisting a crowd to his own views.

For the Rose Family, there is a small group of lawyers ready for the call at any time, but only one that gets into the council meetings: Blake Belladonna, the fiercest lawyer to ever enter a courtroom. To her, the law is simply a tool to be manipulated in whatever way she wishes. Her overall courtroom victories number higher than most others in her field. All in all, she is one of the most dangerous women in the world inside the courtroom, and outside of it as well.

* * *

"Ha! Get fucking wrecked you sorry excuse for an accident, I will find your mother and fist fuck her so hard she forgets what cock feels like!"

A voice from the TV gave Blake a moment of pause as she shook her head, adjusting the mike so she could more easily speak into it. "I think he got the point the twentieth time you killed him, can you please focus so I don't need to carry our entire team?"

"Sorry Ms. Stick-up-your-ass, I can't hear you over the cross field sniper shot into the fucker's balls!" a mad cackle broke out from the other player in the game. "Time to drop the big guns. Die die die!" the screen flashed white for a moment and the match ended, showing the results for the various teams.

Blake sighed and put the controller down, switching over to video call she had been running on her TV as she played, revealing a woman with long blonde hair and a muscular physic wearing only a loose tank top and a pair of panties.

"Was it really necessary to drop the nuke before any of our team members could get out of the area?" Blake sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, massaging the area where her glasses normally sat.

"Needed to kill the fucker before he spawned, man I am awesome!" the woman rubbed her hands together and cackled a bit. "Teach him to kill me with a noob weapon. Fucking ten year olds shouldn't be playing adult games anyway, fucking bullshit parenting if you ask me." The woman raised up a bottle of whiskey and took a long drink from it, coughing and laughing all the while. "Anyway, you up for another round?"

Blake sighed and shook her head. "Sadly, not all of us can have the luxury to sit around in our underwear and play video games all day."

"Yeah, because some of us are boring," Yang rolled her eyes and sighed. "So, whose ass are you pulling out of the fire anyway?"

"Dove Bronzewing, he was caught at a White Fang drug den when the cops broke in." Blake let out a small breath.

"The Winchester family, truly the finest the streets have to offer," Yang laughed and took another drink from her bottle. "What's your game plan this time?"

Blake stood up. "I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you."

"Yeah yeah love you too, I should probably get out and attend to my whole enforcer thing before Ruby finds someone to replace me." Yang sighed dramatically and drained the rest of the bottle as the video call cut to black.

With a roll of her eyes Blake walked to her bedroom and got dressed, throwing on a suit and tie before grabbing her briefcase. Some people wondered why the woman didn't wear something more feminine, and the answer was quite simple: Blake had a reputation for being one of the fiercest lawyers in the courtroom. To fall back on more traditional female clothing would slash a bit of her appearance in the court, and she couldn't afford even for a second to have anyone look at her as anything less than a terrifying monster.

She stepped out of her large apartment and went to the place where her car was being held for her, sliding into it and driving toward the courthouse. Traffic was about as heavy as it could be, which gave her time to think on the case she would be taking on today.

The cops had entered into the building at midnight due to a noise complaint and someone seeing a man with a gun enter into the building. Apparently, the White Fang didn't have the capital or the know-how to bribe the force so they had come down hard, most likely trying to raise public perception by taking down an entire drug den in a single night. A few members had escaped but even more had been captured and cuffed. Out of thirty people who had been arrested that night Dove had been one of them; and due to the alliance between the Winchester and the Rose family, that made it _her_ problem. Normally, all she would have to do is slip a bribe here or there and he would walk free, but he had been arrested for driving under the influence of drugs, and he was on a zero tolerance policy, one that would land him in a cell for a couple of years.

Despite the deck being stacked against her Blake had formed a plan in under a day in order to make sure the case would never see a jury. She parked in a special zone used by lawyers and walked into the courtroom, breathing in the air within the place. It was filled with so many negative emotions, sorrow, pain, hatred, and fear, all of them making themselves nearly tangible to any who entered. It was like a home to Blake.

She made her way down the halls with purpose, and those who were smart quickly got out of her way. There were easier ways to die than by getting in Blake's way and most of the people in the courthouse knew that.

"Well, well if it isn't the great Belladonna, seems we are going to be facing off today." A young man in a nice suit fell into pace next to her, a shark like grin on his face, most likely some stooge looking for a promotion by taking down her in court. He would learn.

"It seems so," Blake said, disinterest plain in her voice. "Have you been the attorney for the entire case?"

The man nodded and let out a laugh. "With all the evidence we have been able to convict every one of the bastards on drug charges, plus the illegal weapons and a number of other things. You have to know that you can't win this one."

Blake's mouth curled in a smile. "Is that your cute way of asking me to cut a deal?"

The man nodded a bit, the sly smile never leaving his face. "Let's cut the crap, we both know you are basically in the mob's pocket, if we get a hold of this guy he will squeal like a pig. Just let him give us some names and we can see about getting him a nice one person cell."

"An interesting offer, but that isn't going to happen." Blake pushed open the court doors and walked inside. "I do wish you luck, but only because you are going to need it when you are begging for a case once I am done." She walked over and sat down next to Dove, who wore a deep frown.

"Jesus, they sent you?" Dove looked at Blake and gulped. "Man, Cardin is going to be pissed."

"Shut up and let me get you out of this." Blake glared at the man and he fell silent.

The judge finally took a seat at his podium. Everyone stood when asked and then quickly took back their seats. The crowd behind them was quite full; either law students come to see the legendary Belladonna or another other assortment of people.

"Today we are looking over the case of the people vs. Mr. Bronzewing, does the plaintiff have any opening remarks for the court today?" the judge's voice was stern and cold. He was an older gentlemen, even when compared to other judges he seemed to be of much older age. From what Blake had read he was also a bit of a battle axe, one of the few incorruptible that none of the Mafia's could touch without having to cross certain lines.

"Of course your honor," the other lawyer got up and flashed Blake a small smile, almost like he was apologizing. "A few days ago police raided a local gang's drug den and arrested over thirty people on various charges, a number of which had former records that insured that they would be put away for a long time to come," he turned to look toward Blake and Dove. "Mr. Bronzewing was not only among those cuffed by the police, but also fought back and ended up injuring one of the officers, all while drugged out of his mind. And mind you, this is with a previous offense on his record; there is no doubt in the people's mind that Mr. Bronzewing should not only suffer time in prison for this offense, but for his prior as well." With that the lawyer sat down, still holding his serious expression.

"Hm, quite the speech," the judge looked over to Blake. "Will the defense make any opening remarks?"

Blake slowly stood up and smiled. "Yes, through if you would allow me I can make this both an opening and a closing remark; you see I have evidence that shows my client is innocent of any misdoings, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The judge raised an eyebrow. "Is that so Ms. Belladonna?"

"Yes your honor, if I may be allowed to speak?" Blake asked, looking down to Dove with a glance that told him just to sit down and try and follow along.

"Please do; through understand that if the people's lawyer finds any need to he can enter into the discussion within reason."

"Understood your honor," Blake opened her briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers, pulling the first one out and offering it to the bailiff, who brought it to the judge. "Eight-thirty of the night in question my client received a call from a young lady by the name of Velvet Scarlatina, a girl he had been seeing for a number of months in private. She had been brought to the White Fang den by a few of her friends, believing it to be a normal party. When she discovered that it was actually a gang drug den she called Dove to come in order to take her away from the party."

"Objection!" the other lawyer stood up and looked to Blake. "No woman of that name was mentioned by the other White Fang members captured by the police, nor is she on the list of those arrested. How could we know this call came from her?"

Blake turned to the judge. "I know I am once again pushing the rules a bit, but might I call a witness?"

The judge frowned but nodded. "If prudent to your case, then yes."

Blake turned toward the people behind them and nodded. "Ms. Scarlatina, please stand."

From the crowd a short young woman wearing a rather nice dress stood up and nervously walked forward. Her dark skin was flushed against the heavy light of the courthouse, and it was obvious from her eyes that she had recently been crying. "Please don't send my Dove to prison, he did nothing wrong!" her voice was low and pleading.

Dove bit back a gulp and looked toward Blake as if she was insane. The Winchester family was well known to be a racist bunch, if even the rumor he had been dating someone of color got out his head would be on a chopping block within a matter of hours.

Blake ignored him, knowing the shock on his face would be registered for a reaction to her appearance rather than her race. She didn't really like the Winchester family all that much; thieves she was fine with, but bigoted idiots like them were a whole other thing. It had surprised her that she had even been called forth due to her own mixed heritage. One would think her chocolate complexion would have had them donning hoods and burning crosses on her lawn. Of course, the second they did that, Blake would be free of the Mafia Code and would destroy them with mountains of lawsuits and legal attacks. It paid to know the law. "Please tell us the night's events from your own perspective Velvet."

Velvet nodded and looked to the judge with teary eyes. "My friends invited me to the place, I thought it was supposed to be a club or a bar, but when we walked in and I saw the White Fang signs everywhere I got really scared. I called Dove because I didn't want anyone else to know that I was there, but before I could walk out and wait for him some guys cornered me and made me breath in this smoke stuff. I… I can't really remember much past that."

"Objection, the witness could very well be making all this up and there is still the issue of none of the other people knowing her name." The lawyer glared toward Blake.

Blake turned to the judge, ignoring the lawyer and shaking her head. "As the witness just stated her friends invited her there, so none of the members would even know her name. Ask for a description and I am sure you will get it. Put her picture in a line up if you have to. I also had the witness sign a Sworn Testimony contract before entering into the courtroom, so she is under oath at the moment." She presented that paper as well.

The judge read over it before giving a nod. "She may continue."

Blake put a comforting hand on Velvet's shoulder and nodded for her to continue.

"Dove got there in about ten minutes, he had to push past them since he is… You know…" Velvet blushed and pushed her fingers together, not wanting to bring up his race. "I don't remember much, but I think they did the whole smoke thing on him too."

Blake brought out a small folder. "Dust, it's a new street drug that lowers inhibitions and when burned in certain ways can bring about different emotions. I pulled the blood samples from Dove's examination and it shows that the mixture used on him affected his ability to think and act on his situation. Anything that happened after being 'Dusted' is more or less not his own fault than someone who is forced to drink by having a bottle of rum shoved down their throats," she handed the folder to the judge. "This is an excerpt from a doctor about the drug's effects."

The judge flipped through a few pages, obviously speed reading before putting it down and nodding. "It seems you have all your ducks in a row, Ms. Belladonna."

"When it comes to defending my client's innocence I am never too prepared." Blake responded.

"But… But…" the other lawyer flipped through papers in his briefcase, trying to find something that could swing the case back in his favor. Once he realized that there was nothing he could pull out he sunk in his chair and lowered his head. "The defense asks the new witness submit to questioning by the police and that Mr. Bronzewing be held until such a time as the story can be confirmed."

"Is that acceptable?" the judge asked Blake.

"Sadly, no; Mr. Bronzewing has a number of duties to do at his own job, and his absence from duty has been noticed. We would however find that putting a tracking device on his person so that he can't leave the city would make a fine alternative." Blake glared at Dove, daring him to say otherwise.

The judge mulled over that thought before nodding. "That is acceptable; he will need to be held until the tracking device can be obtained but after that would be allowed free, on the condition he doesn't leave the city and limited to commuting between his work and home. Court is adjourned." The judge banged his gavel and everyone stood.

A few police officers came up to Velvet and asked her to follow them, which she did so happily, right after giving Dove a hug that nearly made the man cringe.

Blake asked the police for a private room within the courthouse so she could discuss the matter with her client, and they provided them with a stern warning that it could only last ten minutes.

"What the fuck was that?" Dove asked, slamming his fists down on the table. "You realize that Cardin will have me hanged for the rumor that I was with one of your fucking n…"

Before Dove could continue, Blake swung her briefcase hard into his ribcage, knocking the wind from the man and sending him down to his knees. Once he was down she slammed her shoe down on his back and sent him flat on his stomach. "Listen here, you racist waste of space. The Rose family is _pissed_ that you were caught in the first place. When you get out, you _will_ inform Mr. Winchester that any attempts to infiltrate the smaller gangs will be done with the heads' permission, or he will be in violation of the Code." She gave him a firm kick to the ribs before spitting on him.

It took the rest of their time for Dove to stand up, and when the cops led him away he was still cringing every time he bumped his side.

"Excellent work as always, Blake." A small set of claps turned Blake's attention towards an Asian man wearing nice suit with small green tinges here and there.

"Lie Ren, a pleasure as always." Blake offered the man a hand and they shook. Despite working for different families they both acknowledged each other's skill in the courtroom.

Ren drew his hand back from the shake and quickly cleaned his hands with disinfectant. He was ever the germaphobe. "So how did you manage to get that woman to confess?"

Blake waved her hand. "Part of Coco's crew, she is one of the best infiltration assets the Rose family has."

Ren smirked. "Interesting… I will make sure to keep that in mind when Juniper happens to be looking for new assets."

Blake rolled her eyes. "I am guessing you didn't just come here to exchange pleasantries."

Ren's expression didn't change, but his eyes took on a dangerous light. "My boss wants a meeting with yours in two days' time."

"Concerning what?" Blake asked, her tone guarded.

"He didn't mention what, I am just passing along the message," Ren looked at his watch and frowned. "I have to go, someone needs to keep our guys on the streets and away from the law." He turned and walked away, leaving Blake to mule over her thoughts as she walked out of the courthouse.

Blake looked up to the sky and noticed a few clouds gathering. "Feels like a storm is coming."

Part of Blake was idly mentioning the weather. The other half?

Not so much.


	4. Y

In a hellhole like Vale, power means everything. Those who have power stand high above those who are without, pressing boots down on the backs of the weak until they break in whatever way those above them desire.

In order to maintain power each Mafia family has an enforcer, a second in command that acts not only as an advisor but the main muscle behind the family. They are chosen for their strength, wits, and utter loyalty to the family head.

For the Rose Family the enforcer is Yang Xiao Long, a woman so feared for her physical abilities that even more heavily armed enemies would flee at the sight of her with nothing but her fists. It is rumored that she is a child of the previous family head by way of his own former enforcer, but these rumors are only spoken in private, as no one wishes to call down the ire of the family heads upon them.

The Juniper Collective has Pyrrha Nikos, a former world known assassin who one day just dropped her old life to act as the enforcer for the group. Her kill count is unknown, but it is rumored to have at least three digits if not more, and despite the efforts of law enforcement around the world there are no links back to her. She is said to be trained in almost every weapon imaginable, and in a fight it is said she becomes a pure instrument of violence.

The Ash Corporation is known to hire entire mercenary armies, but there is only one person among their ranks who is as known and feared as the previous two. And perhaps even more so then that. Neo, at least that is the name that people have given to her. Some say that she was raised from birth to be a killer, some say she was a mental patient turned serial killer. Even more say however that she is an actual demon summoned from hell to kill as many people as possible in the most twisted ways she can.

No one knows what would happen if these three came to face each other. Most hope that it would never happen, afraid that a war between the three of them would leave the city in ruin.

* * *

Yang sighed and turned off the t.v., laying back on the bed and looking up toward the ceiling. She had things that needed to be done that day, but if it were up to her she would spend it just relaxing on the nice bed. Of course if she stayed here for too long then someone who knew the person who owned the bed would no doubt come looking for him.

Which reminded her that there was still the small issue of the body she had to take care of. Ever since the bean counters had complained about the cleaning crews she had been forced to handle body disposal herself, which was never as fun as it sounded. Right now the person whose house she was in sat in a bathtub full of acid and other chemicals that were slowly eating away at was once a human body.

Yang almost felt bad for the poor bastard; after all he had just been a reporter going after a scoop, trying to make a living. But he had managed to snap a picture of Ruby with some of the other members of the family, and then had the balls to try and blackmail the Rose family.

She had managed to find him at a bar, and after a few drinks and letting him fire off bad pickup lines they had ended up at his place. They had a bit of fun, only a bit through, not a guy alive who had managed to go beyond that against Yang. After the fun was done she had calmly strangled him to death and started the busy work of making sure the body wouldn't be found. Or at least she had dumped the dead body in the tub and filled it with the chemical mix that the Schnee Company made. It was pure luck that the guy happened to have the same system as Yang, and she never left home without her memory stick. With Blake off to do boring legal stuff through she knew there wasn't much of a point sticking around and dicking around with games.

After quickly checking that the body had fully dissolved over night she carefully pulled the plug she had put over the drain and waited until the liquid soup that had once been a human body was sent down the pipes. She followed the slush with another chemical chaser, something to make sure that any corpse sniffing dogs wouldn't be able to get any smell from the tub.

Once the grunt work had been finished Yang gathered together her supplies and made her exit from the house, carefully locking the door behind her and walking to her motorcycle, parked right where she had left and, unmolested from the previous night. "And now I have the day to myself." Yang smiled brightly, thinking of what she might do with the day off. Before she could get too deep into thought over the matter through her phone went off, signifying that she probably had a new job to take care of.

She quickly looked at her phone and found it was a basic shake up. Some idiot had been supplying weapons to the Triads, trying to help them get a foothold in the city. And the idiot wasn't someone she could just kill and call it a day. Stupid red tape, she was supposed to be a criminal.

But she wasn't doing this for herself, she knew that much already. Yang jumped on her bike and revved it up, pulling away from the house and hitting the road. While she drove through the traffic her mind turned to memories of the past, thinking about the road that had taken her this far.

* * *

_Yang didn't remember much about her time before she had sworn herself to the Rose family, which was probably for the best. She had been thrown into an orphanage the day she was born, and despite the best working of the sisters there she had grown up to be a terrible demon. She stole, she cursed, and oh did she ever love to fight. She had been kicked out on her ass the second she turned thirteen. Apparently the God that watched over this city wasn't the same one who promoted love and patience, the Sisters believed in a God that would kick out a kid. She never blamed them through, honestly. When she had torched their Church it had only been a matter of them not paying on the bribe._

_Once on the street Yang had been faced with a whole new reality, no longer were the Sisters there to give her food or help her wounds. She lived on the streets, stole for food, and of course fought off anyone stupid enough to try and take anything from her. Despite being smaller and younger than her enemies she tore them apart like they were made of paper. Even full grown men came to fear the young women whose only home was the streets and the abandoned buildings._

_One night however she was greeted by a man who offered to take her under his wing and teach her how to be a real criminal. It was a bad time in the city's history, and food was harder to come by even for thieves like her. She agreed and the man had initiated her into his own little gang, a group of ten assorted men and women who ran some minor protection gambits and had a few whores. One of the men had suggested pimping out Yang, and after demonstrating why he should learn to keep his mouth shut Yang was accepted in by the others. For a time it was like they were family. They taught her to read, write, count, and of course how to threaten others. By the time she was fifteen she was second in command to the gang. The man who had brought her in was also the first man who taught her about sex. Despite being young Yang found it enjoyable, and put it right under fighting on the list of things she enjoyed doing._

_It really was inevitable that they would betray her through. After only a handful of years she was getting more street cred then the rest of the gang put together, and at the first chance they threw her to the wolves. The man who had taken her in, been her first lover, and had acted like a friend to her had smiled as the police dragged her off for position of a firearm and armed robbery._

_She was left to rot in the dankest juvenile cell available in Vale, a privately owned prison facility owned by such rich bastard, the Arcangel Corrections Facility. Yang would only later learn that it was actually owned and operated by the Juniper Collective, a place to train future criminals or lock away dangerous elements. She had been firmly placed in the latter category. After all she had been betrayed once, and it was doubtful that any could convince her._

_She had spent a full year and some odd months in that hellhole before a visitor had arrived. At first she had almost just told the guards to get stuffed, thinking they were playing with her mind. But after a few minutes she had decided to let them take her, knowing there was nothing she could really do. They had led her to the visiting room where a number of other of the young prisoners would meet with their parents or families for small periods of time. That day however it was empty save for two people. A young girl with black hair, wearing a pretty red and black dress and a tall guard wearing a suit and carrying a weapon on him._

_At first Yang had wanted to run, after all the only people who wore suits and carried weapons were government agents or high class gangs, and neither of them seemed the type for a gentle conversation. But for some reason Yang was drawn to the small girl sitting at the table, and allowed herself to be deposited down._

" _Um…hi there." The girl across from Yang said shyly, looking down at her feet and shaking nervously._

_Yang blinked, unsure what she was supposed to do in this situation. She had never exactly been delicate, and when it came to manners she had about as much skill as a chimp. But she wanted to say something that would make the girl less afraid, less nervous. "Hey, um… so what's up?" she tried to act casual, but it felt weird to her._

_The girl looked at her, biting her lip a bit. "My name is Ruby, what's yours?"_

" _Yang, my name is Yang." She replied._

_For a full minute there was nothing but silence, but finally Ruby broke it. "I um… my daddy died recently." She explained, the words not quite sounding natural coming from her youthful voice._

" _That sucks." Yang said, trying to say the words in the nicest way possible, imitating the tone the nuns would use whenever they wanted to try and calm her down. Once again she was confused about why she was doing this, but some part of her didn't want to act like her usual self around the girl._

_Ruby nodded and continued talking. "After he died I found out my daddy had another mommy before mine, and that um…" she looked at Yang and took a deep breath. "You're my sister… I mean we have the same daddy."_

_Yang felt her blood turn to ice at those words. She had a father, and a sister. Well just a sister at the current time, but that was more then she had before. "Oh." Was all that Yang had been able to say._

_Ruby's eyes began to fill with tears. "I…I don't really have any family left or anything, lots of people are around to help me and stuff, but I… I wanted to ask if you would be my big sister."_

_Yang felt her entire body begin to shake, and for the first time since the night she had been betrayed she felt tears prick at her eyes. "I don't know if I would be any good at it, I mean it's not like I am a good person, hel…heck you don't even really know me."_

_Ruby's mouth quivered as tears ran freely down her face, entire body now shaking as she began to cry._

_As soon as she began to cry Yang got up, moving over to her and pressing her body against hers. She was unable to move her hands with the cuffs still on her. The guard and the suited man both reached toward her, but she leveled them with a glare that would stop a charging rhino in its path. "Hey don't cry, come on stop it."_

_Ruby looked her, eyes red and puffy from crying and a bit of snot coming from her nose._

" _Listen if you don't cry anymore I will be your sister okay? Just enough with the crying." Yang felt tears come to her own eyes as she said those words. Sister. Family._

_That day she left the place that had been her prison for a full year. That was the day she found out she had a sister, and beyond that she learned that she would do anything for the girl._

_Once she learned that her sister was to become the new Mafia boss Yang dedicated herself to becoming strong enough to protect her from anything. To that point she trained under the watchful eye of the strongest person in the city, Ozpin 'The Professor', who was said to have once been the most feared man on the planet. Under his careful eye Yang had become the one of the three deadliest people in the city of Vale, and when she made the bid to become the new Enforcer there wasn't anyone stupid enough to get in her way._

* * *

Yang allowed a smile to come over her face, parking out in front of the entrance to the nightclub used as a front for the Triads within the city. After a bit of looking she found a homeless man and paid him a handsome fee to make sure nothing happened to her bike, it was after all her pride and joy, built from the ground up with Ozpin as a way to teach her patients and skills with building.

Once she was sure her bike would be well looked out for she grabbed a foul smelling bag from the storage compartment and slid the metal tonfa and a pistol into their proper places on her belt. With all her prep work finished she walked to the nightclub's door and drew back her foot, kicking it open and walking inside.

The sound of the wooden door being kicked off its hinges drew the attention of a number of men within the bar. Each was dressed in a suit or some equivalent, looking classy despite the more modern look and design of the club. It was a good front for the Triads to use, police had better things to do in a city like this then bust a few college kids for taking whatever designer drug was hot at the ti

"Hey I came here to party, where is the host?" Yang put on her cockiest grin as she looked around to the well-dressed Asian men. A few turned and whispered to each other, some just seemed confused. It was quite possible that some of them didn't even speak English, low ranking tadpoles in the scheme of things.

Finally from the back of the club a rather tall man with a muscular build came out, backed by two women. Junior Xiong and his twin bodyguards Melanie and Miltiades Malachite, the three who were in charge of the Triad's movements and operations within the city. Junior had become known as the 'Fierce Bear' of Vale, known for being about as strong as two men by himself. The twins had been trained from birth to be assassins, making them both equally dangerous in a fight. The prospect of a battle with them actual got Yang's heart pumping.

"Ms. Xiao Long, how…nice to see you." Junior spoke with a heavy Chinese accent; he had after all come from China long before being sent to Vale. "What do I owe the pleasure of your visit too?"

Yang shook her head a bit, scoffing under her breath. She loved it when they played dumb, it made it all the more fun when she called out the bullshit. "Well I reckon I am here to file a complaint against y'all." Yang put on a thick southern accent, just to fuck with them mostly. Despite being half Chinese she had no loyalty to the culture, she was an American born criminal after all. She had in fact only decided to use the last name Xiao Long because it had been a name Bruce Lee had gone by and thought making her name out to be 'Little Sun Dragon' was about as badass as a name could get.

"A complaint?" Junior continued to feign ignorance, but his men seemed to become more focused on her, hands hovering near weapons. They wouldn't go for their guns, shooting the Enforcer of a Mafia family was a declaration of open war, and the Triads didn't have a foothold enough in this city to do something like that. If they could kill her with other weapons through then it would have been seen as losing a fight and dying, which was much more accepted. The Enforcer was supposed to be the strongest member of the family, dying in a fight would just mean they were too weak for the job. "Whatever could you mean?"

"A month back we ordered a number of parts to various weapons through your routes; in fact I remember paying your people a hefty sum. When they arrived we were missing a third of the promised cargo, but we figured shit happens when shipping illegal weapon parts from Gooktown to us and let it slide," Yang's smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a look that screamed business. "But about a week back we found some stupid fucks using modified assault weapons during a bank robbery, and once we found their little base and curb stomped them we found that they were the same parts that we ordered."

Junior adjusted his tie, obviously uncomfortable. "Such things happen, it is possible that they…"

In a flash Yang crossed the distance between them and grabbed onto Junior's collar, listing the taller man with a strength that didn't seem like it belonged to her form. "Listen here Junior, do you want to know what I did to your countrymen when they wouldn't talk?" the other Triad members now had their weapons free, a collection of blades and other such weapons. The twins had freed their weapons, a long but hidden blade from one and two metal spikes hidden in the shoe of the other. Yang tossed Junior back and turned away from all of them, grabbing the bag.

"You see at first I asked nicely, but apparently being nice doesn't work with you people, so I had to get… creative," Yang turned toward them again, a demonic smile on her face. "I had each of them tied to a chair and put into a circle. I would drag one of them at random into the middle of the circle and would cut away his clothes with scissors," Yang chuckled a bit. "By the way apparently not all stenotypes are true, some of your guys were hung, for all it helped. I would ask nicely for them to tell me what happened. If they didn't…" she reached into the bag and pulled out a small penknife whose blade was covered in blood and other fluids, tossing it down on the ground. "I would stick that into their dick holes and then," she made a sharp jerking motion and she swore she saw the men turn green. "I would then ask again, and if they didn't talk I took the pen knife and…" she reached into the bag again and threw a large freezer bag full of bloody fleshy parts down on the ground, and then a number of them did throw up. "I cut off their balls and let them bleed to death. I got my information, and the rest got to die with a bullet to the head."

"You bitch." Junior said, cleaning the vomit from his mouth. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

"I the fuck am Yang, man for someone who is supposed to be an information broker you kind of suck at your job." The blonde haired beauty stuck her tongue out at Junior.

"That's it, waste this bitch!" he stepped back and his gang pulled free their weapons, ready to avenge their fallen comrades.

At that Yang grabbed the tonfa from their resting place on her belt and charged toward the group, mind slipping away so it could be replaced by her instincts. During their time together Ozpin had helped her craft a unique fighting style that suited her violent nature. While she fought Yang was detached from the world or thought, simply focusing on her enemies and the rush it gave her to defeat them. Violence was the only thing she was capable of when she got like this, and it showed her in style.

The Triad members used long blades, knifes, and occasionally even more exotic weapons, and each was well trained with their weapons of choice. But they were at a disadvantage against Yang, she was used to fighting large groups of people on her own, and it appeared that the Triad members were clumsy when it came to fighting as a group. With a few dodges they even managed to take out members of their own group.

Yang delivered a number of blows upon then, striking with bone breaking kicks and punches. Her tonfa acted mainly as defensive weapons, but she occasionally landed a painful blow to the necks or arms of her enemies when they left themselves open to it. She danced between the group, raining down pain and dropping the men like flies.

Before long the twins joined the battle, striking at her with their blades, showing much more skill then the average members she had been taking down in droves. The two had been trained from birth to work together and it showed in their style. When one assault would begin to tire the other sister would take place, never giving Yang a moment of rest. Against a lesser enemy they would have won in a matter of minutes. But Yang had one thing that the twins lacked, an honest love for fighting. No matter how hard they pressed against her she continued on, pushing back the pain from the cuts and blows that had landed on her to the back of her mind, drawing deeply from her adrenaline to continue the assault long after most would run out of steam. The fight turned after Yang managed to interrupt their next swap, landing a powerful blow on Melanie's kneecap and forcing the women to fall to the ground. Without the use of both of her legs she couldn't fight using the hidden knives in her shoes. Once she fell it was only a matter of minutes before Yang managed to overpower her sister with a hard strike to the neck using her tonfa, leaving only Junior standing.

"W…what are you?" he asked, slowly backing away from the scene. There had been twenty hardened criminals and two trained assassins, and they hadn't even slowed the blonde haired women down.

"Yang Xiao Long, enforcer to the Rose Family." Yang pressed her tonfa against Junior's neck. "Try fucking us again and I will come back with a full hit squad and show you exactly how we deal with people who piss us off." With that said she turned around and left the Triad's to lick their wounds.

As soon as she left the building she got a text on her personal phone. It had been from Ruby, inviting her to their favorite ice cream shop to hang out. "She better not start without me." Yang muttered happily before getting on her bike and driving away to meet with her sister.


	5. Oncoming Storm pt. 1

Storms are a rare occurrence in Vale, despite being a coastal city. The occasional rainfall or heavy winds take their turns assaulting the buildings and roads, but a true storm hasn't been seen in the city for many years. Some say that a sense of repetition forms the basis for flaws later down the road, and this is apparent when it comes to the structure of the city.

Half of the buildings in Vale that had been made in the last five years don't have shatter proof windows. If you asked the people who owned said buildings they would say that earthquakes never happen in the city, and that winds are never strong enough to do more than blow papers at them. Only twenty five percent of buildings have any sort of water damage insurance, many reasoning that the minor damage done by the rain each year would hardly justify paying for such a thing.

Yes, simply put after a disaster disappears for a while it becomes nothing more than a ghost story to most people. This is always why when the storm eventually does come those who are prepared manage to weather it.

And those who don't are consumed by it.

* * *

Jaune woke up the same way he did every morning, to the sound of his alarm clock buzzing about on his nightstand with reckless abandon. It took a few tries for his tired hand to seek out the old fashioned clock, complete with the face of a cartoon character that he doubted anyone remembered or cared about in this day and age. The snooze button was quickly hit, along with the off button to stop the clocks buzzing. For a few moments the blonde man considered just going back to sleep, pretending the alarm had never gone off and just continue his dreams.

At the same time he realized that doing so would most likely bring his bodyguard in with a full execution team to make sure nothing had managed to snag him while he slept. There were many indignities Jaune was willing to face in his life, but having his Enforcer and a group of hardened killers catch him in boxers with hearts printed on them was not one of them. Not again. Never again. So with as much grunting and groaning as he could muster, Jaune managed to pull himself into the amazing bathroom he had for himself, complete with everything the top percent of the criminal underworld could ask for.

After a long shower that managed to blast the sleep out of his eyes Jaune got dressed in one of his best suits and walked out the door, fiddling with his tie. "Okay, so it's around the bend… No, wait, something to do with snakes… Why would you even want a snake around your neck?" he continued walking down the hall, muttering while trying his best to fix what he not so affectionately called his 'fancy noose' before bumping into another person, almost losing balance completely and falling over.

"Oh, you are awake," Pyrrha stood in front of Jaune, a pair of glasses covering her emerald eyes and a rather flattering pant suit covering her. The glasses weren't for any prescription, but without them Pyrrha had a stare that made it clear that she was already considering a thousand ways to murder the person she was looking at, so Jaune had requested she do something to lower her intimidation factor a bit so he could get through a meeting without the other person needed to change their pants. Now at most they just fell over their own words. "Good, we are already ahead of schedule then." She looked down at Tablet with a pair of hammers crossed on the back of it, the newest Scroll from Valkyrie Industries.

"Yay," Jaune waved a finger around in the air as if it were a small flag, letting out a deep sigh before yanking on his tie again. "Think you could…?"

Pyrrha looked up from the Scroll and sighed, putting it aside for a moment before stepping forward and fixing his tie for him. "You are utterly hopeless sometimes."

"Hey!" Jaune scowled for a moment; however it was only a matter of moments before his naturally goofy grin took its place. "I find that I am at least Saturday morning cartoon villain levels of competent most of the time."

"A perfectly fine level until you look down and realize you ran off the cliff," the assassin remarked, pulling on the tie and tightening it a bit more then was needed with a sly smile. "There you go sir."

Jaune loosened the tie a bit but nodded, walking down the hall and running a hand thought his blonde hair. "So other than the usual back and forth, what's on the agenda today?"

Pyrrha returned her gaze to the Scroll, reading over a few things before answering. "Breakfast first,"

"Oh did we talk Nora into letting us borrow Ren to make pancakes?" Jaune's eyes filled with the same hopeful glow that a child's would when told that Santa might have left a present for them.

"No," Pyrrha replied, moving forward through her list. "After breakfast we have your target practice on the firing range, working with nine millimeter today so I hope you didn't skim on your upper body exercises."

Jaune whistled a bit while a few nervous beads of sweat began to appear on the back of his neck at the direness of her tone. 'So long as playing the Wii counts as upper body exercise' he thought to himself.

"And after that a quick shower so you can get dressed for your…meeting." Pyrrha looked up toward her boss and friend, trying to gauge his reaction to being reminded of the unpleasant task ahead of him.

With the reminder came the death of the playfulness about Jaune's person, replaced with a small scowl and a sigh of resignation. "Right, that."

She looked toward him, concern plain in her normally sharp eyes. "You know, it is possible to send a messenger in your place, if you don't want–"

"No," Jaune put up a hand, pausing his second in command before she could continue. "If I am planning to do something about this it has to be me. The other bosses would love a reason to prove I am unfit to act as the head, besides I made you a promise right?" he smiled a bit and raised his fist toward her. "I am going to be the best Mafia Boss in this city, and you are going to be the greatest Enforcer."

"A childish promise," Pyrrha looked at him for a moment before pressing her fist against his. "But I will stand by it so long as you wish to keep it." Her normally stoic face broke into a smile for a second before returning to its neutral expression. "But before you become the best you need to eat and learn to shoot."

Jaune sighed a bit and shook his head. "Pyrrha we were having a moment, you can't just ruin moments by interjecting all of your facts," he turned toward the dining room.

Pyrrha let out a small breath and followed after him. Today was going to be the biggest trial either of them had ever faced before. In all honesty she had walked into war torn regions with less nerves then she had about what they were going to do. Sometimes people wondered what she was doing here, a world renowned assassin working for a Mafia gang. The truth was simple through, she was here for the man in front of her, and after all they had made a promise…

* * *

_"You worthless brat!" Pyrrha's father kicked his young daughter in the ribs, watching with cold eyes as the small frame of the ten year old girl shook with pain from the blow from the steel toed boot of her father, only caring to watch as blood and spit came from her mouth. "The target was an easy one, one drunken slut and you fucked even that up, the cum I wasted on you wasn't worth the effort my body went through shooting it out." He delivered another kick into the girl's body, sending her small form tumbling back into a wall._

_"Enough!" a young blonde boy rushed into the hallway, stepping between the young girl and her father, a defiant look in his eye despite the fact he was standing before a man who could easily kill him. "Stand down Zeus that's an order."_

_"And you think I am going to listen to some brat ordering me around?" the older man arched an eyebrow at the child and took a step forward, expecting the young boy to step down or piss his pants in fear._

_"Jaune Arc, you work for my dad and by extension me, so back down." Jaune held his stance, somehow hiding the tremble he felt running through his body internally. It wasn't that he wasn't afraid, because he was, but rather he simply couldn't stand to see something like that happen._

_The man stood silent for a moment before turning his back and lighting a smoke. "Whatever, fuck her and sire yourself an heir with all the shits I give, just make sure she can still use a gun when you finish with her." With that said he walked down the hallway and turned, disappearing into the building, a trail of smoke from his cigarette leaving any sign he had been there._

_Jaune stuck his tongue out after the man and turned to put a gentle hand on Pyrrha's body. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern plain in his eyes._

_"You shouldn't have done that," Pyrrha responded in an almost robotic tone. "It will just make him angry later." She began to push herself up, but the pain from the beating was too much for the young girl to push through. Before her body could fall however Jaune caught her, helping her to her feet and putting her arm around him to help support her._

_"No you don't," Jaune frowned a bit and adjusted himself so she could get the maximum amount of support. "You are hurt; let me at least get you to the doc."_

_"Why?" she turned toward him, her neutral expression tainted by confusion. No one had ever bothered to do anything like this before. Even when her father injured her worst, no one within the family had ever batted an eye. The reason came to her in a moment through. "I am…not good at the things my father said you could do." Her cheeks flushed red, only able to imagine one reason for such kindness._

_Jaune's face turned a uniform shade of red and he quickly shook his head from side to side. "No no no no no, nothing like that, it's just you are hurt… well I don't exactly know a lot of people my age, and well I have seen you around and stuff, and I don't like the idea of you being hurt…" his words were rushed as he tried to explain himself._

_Pyrrha blinked and looked at him, trying to find the lie or angle from which the heir to the Arc crime family was playing this, but all she found was a sincere flustered look on the boy's face. "Okay, let's go."_

_Jaune finally drew in a breath and nodded, leading her to down the hall in the opposite direction from her father, toward the Families onsite doctor._

_Once there the doctor had done his best to wrap the wounds and gave the young woman a few painkillers, telling her to rest and heal for at least a week. Once the examination was finished Jaune said that he would personally escort her back to her room._

_"So, you are training to be an assassin?" Jaune asked, trying to make small talk as the two made slow progress toward her room._

_Pyrrha nodded. "That's right, I am going to take over my father's place one day, and in order to do that I need to be the most effective person I can be." which according to her father was still a long way away._

_"Thats so awesome, you know I am going to be taking over for my dad too one day, I will be the best Mafia boss in the whole world," Jaune suddenly turned to her, excitement plain on his face. "I know, when I become the boss you can be my right hand person, we will be totally unstoppable!"_

_For the second time that day Pyrrha was stunned into silence. This boy who had just met her had enough faith in her abilities that he was offering a position like that to her. At the time she didn't understand it, but the young girl wanted to live up to that promise more than anything, at that moment. "I suppose I can accept that deal."_

_"Awesome!" Jaune moved his free arm and wrapped his pinkie around hers. "It's a promise."_

* * *

_Three skilled and hardened Mafia enforcers surrounded a teenaged Pyrrha in the training room, each holding either knives or blunt objects which they were quite skilled with. Each of the three men had enough fights under their belts that few things scared them in anymore. Each was confident they could beat the girl before them._

_They never stood a chance._

_Without a moment's hesitation the three men charged Pyrrha, each of them intent on finishing the fight with a single blow. It was only at the last moment that the red haired young woman dodged out of the way, allowing the three to hit each other and throw off their stances. It was then that she attacked; landing blows with enough strength to break bones on their legs or chests, sending the three hardened criminals down to the ground, moaning in pain._

_"That was amazing!" Jaune stood up from the sidelines and walked over, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking down at the three. Each of them had been recently found to be taking more than their fair share on the shake downs they had been doing, this was their punishment. "You took them down like it was nothing!"_

_Pyrrha gave a small nod but secretly basked in the praise the young man was giving her. Ever since that day where he had stood up for her Pyrrha couldn't help but spend most of her time around Jaune. The two were thick as thieves, and some of the other members of the Alliance had even joked about not needing to find a wife for the kid when he already had someone like her around. "It was nothing, though I did try to add in a few of the moves from the books you gave me for Christmas."_

_Jaune laughed and scratched the back of his head. "So I guess the martial arts manuals actually paid off huh?" he had managed to buy a number of scrolls and the like from some masters of various forms of martial arts from overseas. Some had been purchased directly, and others had been paid for in the more roundabout way of having them stolen from various temples._

_"I suppose it was." Pyrrha walked over to him and was about to say something else, but her father's arrival in the doorway gave her pause._

_Jaune raised an eyebrow but turned around and frowned. "You have to go?" he asked._

_"Yes, I will see you around." She let her smile disappear and walked toward her father, returning to a perfect neutral expression as she prepared for whatever he had lined up for her next._

_"You performed well, daughter." Zeus put a hand on top of her head before turning around and walking off._

_Pyrrha blinked in surprise, unable to form a response while following him. It was the first compliment he had paid her since she was a toddler. If only she had known something that strange was an omen for what was to come._

* * *

"Hey, Pyrrha?" Jaune turned to look at his bodyguard, pulling down the earmuffs that protected him from the sounds of firing a weapon in a closed off room. "Earth to Pyrrha." After the two had finished breakfast they had gone down a few floors to the firing range to practice Jaune's firearm skills. Normally he would have already been taught these skills, but after his father had passed away Jaune had to focus more on other matters.

"Hm?" Pyrrha shook her head, banishing her thoughts of the past from her mind and refocusing on the present. "Apologies, my mind was wandering."

Jaune smirked and gave a small wink toward her. "Well you can think about how hot I look holding a gun later, kay?"

Pyrrha cracked a small smile at her boss's ever joking nature and shook her head. "Of course Mr. Arc, now what was your question?"

He pointed toward the bull's-eye target on the other end of the range. "Why am I using this instead of one of those human target things that you use?"

"For the same reason a baby learns to crawl before it stands up to walk, the target puts the concept of aiming for specific targets and hitting them into your mind, then when we eventually move to the human targets you will have an easier time aiming for specific body parts." Pyrrha brought up her own gun and motioned for Jaune to put the earmuffs back on. Once he had them on Pyrrha aimed down his lane and fired half her clip into the bull's-eye, and then turned to her own lane and placed a bullet in each of the vital areas of her humanoid practice target.

"Don't know if the showing off part was needed," Jaune said with crossed arms and a smile. Before he could reach down for his weapon again the cellphone in his pocket began to vibrate, signaling that his alarm was going off. "Well, looks like it's almost time." All at once the carefree demeanor Jaune had held throughout the training disappeared as a more serious expression took its place.

"Yes, all of the materials should be sent ahead, so enjoy your shower and make sure you are fully prepared for what lies ahead." Pyrrha turned away from Jaune and began to move away.

"Right…" Jaune ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

In the next couple of hours he was going to change the very landscape of Vale's underworld with this meeting.

He was about to declare war on the Ash Corporation.


	6. Oncoming Storm pt. 2

Jaune quickly made his way back toward his room, throwing off his current suit in favor for another, more flexible one. It annoyed him greatly that he had to constantly wear such uncomfortable clothing even inside of his own building, but appearance was everything when it came to this lifestyle. If you didn't dress like the boss then you might lose respect from the underlings. "Heh, yeah, lord forbid people don't respect me…" the young man splashed some water on his face, trying to clear the thoughts from his head.

It had only been eight years since his father's passing had forced him to take over the Juniper Collective, and since that day he had fought an uphill battle against every single person who would rather be standing where he was at the moment. As he grabbed the briefcase that held all that he would need for his coming meeting Jaune couldn't help but reflect on the night that everything had changed for him the first time.

The day his father had been killed.

* * *

_Jaune had woken up due to the sound of feet banging against the floor outside of his room, a noise he wasn't used to this late at night. Seventeen years of living around criminals had made him a really light sleeper. It had only taken a moment for him to throw on some pajamas and walk out of his room, trying to find a reason for the commotion. It only took a few minutes for him to find the group of people standing around his father's office. Most of the faces were like stone, others were angry, and a few had tears ready to spring from their eyes._

_He turned shakily toward the office, pushing past those standing around it to find his father laying there in a pool of blood, a bullet hole in his heart. Jaune collapsed next to his father, shaking him, trying to bring some sort of life out of him. No one bothered trying to stop him; there was nothing to be done at his point. "Who did this?" he asked, looking up to one of the men._

_"Boys say it was Zeus, walked in and shot your father dead, then just knocked out about ten of our boys before making an exit." The large man gripped his hand tight into a fist._

_A sudden gasp came from behind the men, who parted to reveal Pyrrha looking toward the scene, having obviously heard her father's name. Anger took its place on her face for a moment, but eventually died away as she walked toward Jaune, kneeling next to him. "Are you okay?" she asked, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder._

_Jaune's body shook for a moment, through instead of tears and sobs another sound came out, a laugh. "Yeah, yeah I am really fucking all right," he stood up, cleaning the tears from his face. "Everyone get back to their posts, Zeus could be planning on bringing in more people to take us while you jackasses stand around," the men gawked at the boy, so freely giving orders in a disrespectful tone to people older than him. "I am paying you as of now, get to it!" the men quickly left, leaving only Jaune and Pyrrha standing in the room with his father's corpse._

_Pyrrha simply stood there, not sure of how to comfort him. In all of the lessons she had learned when it came to killing and fighting, she had never once been taught how to comfort the victims of the crime. "And what do you want me to do?"_

_Jaune looked down at his father's dead body and went over to the desk, pulling his father's jacket off of it and tossing it over him. "We have a deal right?" he looked to her; the sadness of a boy who lost his father was gone, replaced by the fire of revenge._

_It took a moment to think about what Jaune was talking about, but eventually Pyrrha realized he was speaking on the promise they had made when they were children. "We do." She replied._

_"Then from this moment on you are my Enforcer, we can get the contract made later but I am fully promoting you as the new head of the family." Jaune went over to his father's desk once more, pulling out a handgun his father kept there. It hadn't done him any good that night, but it would still have a purpose._

_"Understood." Pyrrha said, a small bow of her head showing that she accepted her new position._

_"Good, then here is your first mission," Jaune grabbed the gun by the muzzle, handing it to her while it was still pointed toward him. "Find the assassin that killed my dad, and make sure he doesn't live to regret it."_

_The young woman froze, part of her not able to accept what Jaune was asking of her. To kill her father, to murder the man who had raised her. For anyone else she would refuse, she would just walk away and build a new life. But for Jaune? "I accept, boss." She took the gun and turned away, leaving Jaune to grieve over his father's corpse._

_She was the Enforcer to the Arc Family now, and she would perform her first duty with the same efficiency her father had trained her to have._

* * *

Jaune shook his head and looked at the tie in his hands, tossing it on the bed with a smirk. Showing up without the tie might be seen as an insult, but of course that was kind of the entire point of this meeting. The mob boss took a moment to check himself in the mirror, running a hand through his blonde locks to try and get them just the way he liked, though they rebelliously fell into their same positions. After all was said and done he walked down the hallways and into the elevator, two guards standing on the back ends, hands on their weapons of choice as they descended. After about a minute the elevator dinged and opened up to the first floor, where Pyrrha was waiting for him in a rather lovely looking red dress.

"You know I am going to have to think about changing the dress code around here," Jaune said, drinking in the sight of his top Enforcer with a smile. "Because I could stand to see you in more dresses."

Pyrrha simply rolled her eyes in response. "I am certain that the men within the organization would not been keen on having to wear women's clothing all day."

"Point taken," Jaune laughed and walked with her toward the limo that was waiting for them. In reality he hated having people drive for him, but it was all about appearances, arriving in your own car was a sign of poverty, showing up in a stretch limo made you look like a big shot. "So, are you nervous about this?"

A rare smirk came to her face. "Nervous about declaring war on a company that has been known to sell chemical weapons in the Middle East and who actively fund Warlords in Africa in order to drive up sales of their backlogged weapons?" Pyrrha gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Not really."

It was impossible to hold back the snort that came from Jaune at that. Pyrrha rarely told jokes, but she had the best dry humor this side of Vale. "Well me, I am not nervous in the slightest." He grabbed a water bottle and turned the cap, slowly drinking the cold liquid down.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I got you by my side, history repeating itself if you ask me." Jaune smirked a bit and screwed the cap back on his bottle. "Remember that?"

* * *

_It had been a full week since Jaune's father had been killed, and in that week there had been plenty of grieving and well wishes, but finally it came time to answer a question the entire Juniper Collective was waiting to know._

_Who would be the new boss?_

_Unlike the Rose family, the Juniper Collective had always been an alliance of criminal families that had come together in order to rise above the streets. The title of Boss went to the most powerful head of the most powerful family, and from there the head would decide on rules and hold other special privileges over the other families, while still retaining some level of autonomy among the other branches of the family._

_At that time, there had been six families powerful enough to earn a seat on the council, excluding the Arc family, which was one of the founding three families of the Juniper Collective. Each was waiting around a large table, Enforcers by their sides with hands idling near their weapons._

_The doors swung open and Jaune entered the room, Pyrrha walking only a step behind him, eyes glancing toward each of the other Enforcers with certain coldness behind them. On the same night Jaune's father had been killed Pyrrha had tracked down her father and killed him, which made those in the room wary of her. The skill needed to kill one of the Underworlds most powerful men was something that humbled most people, and in the hands of a young woman that none of the others could predict? It was a scary thought. She had worn a set of full combat armor that had been designed for her, meant to be able to take a bullet and allow her to keep going._

_Jaune took a seat at the table, dressed in a fine tux and wearing a smile. "So then, I want to keep this brief for all of you, I am going to be taking over my father's place as the head Boss of the Juniper Collective, okay?"_

_For a moment there was only silence as each of the other heads watched him, before one burst out laughing. "You fuckin kiddin me?" the man looked around and shook his head. "Kid your old man was a genius and we are gonna fuckin miss him, but you can't just come in here and try and slap us with your dick like that, shit ain't a movie."_

_The blonde haired boy never lost his smile, simply raising his hand and snapping his fingers._

_Pyrrha took the signal and drew her weapon, a silenced pistol which had been colored black to effortlessly blend against her suit. She fired six shots, disabling five of the Enforcers in the room and killing the Enforcer of the offending family head. The time between the snap and the killings couldn't be counted without a stopwatch, and each of the heads looked at him in disbelief._

_"I am taking over for three reasons," Jaune began, filling the silence with his voice. "The first is that my father's accounts make up for a fifth of our overall treasury, and those accounts are now owned by me. The second is that I don't feel like going through a trade of power, and the third… Well," he leaned back in his chair. "The third is because I have the greatest killer in the entire world with me and if any of you feel like arguing that fact…"_

_Pyrrha dropped her clip from her weapon, slamming a new one home and glancing around the table with the same eyes, through now a glimmer of murderous intent flashed in them._

_"Well, I mean, that's up to you."_

_The other six family heads looked to each other before nodding. "How shall we proceed, Mister Arc?"_

_"Glad you asked, but first how about we get some wine in here?" he blinked and looked at the fallen bodies, most of who were still cursing their bullet wounds. "And maybe get a doctor or something, your people look like shit."_

* * *

"Man how many assassins did they sent at us after that?" Jaune asked, looking out the window to watch the city zoom past them.

"Is that an actual question?" Pyrrha asked, thinking back toward those early days when they had first taken over the Juniper Collective.

Jaune thought about it for a moment but shook his head. "Naw, better that I don't know honestly, one second." He hit a button on the inside of the limo that told the driver to pull over to the sidewalk. Once parked Jaune rolled down the window and looked out at a number of kids standing around and poking a dead bird with a stick. "Hey, leave the dead alone aye?"

One of the kids turned to look at him and smiled brightly. "Jaune!" the kids began to talk among themselves and walked over to the limo. Despite being a criminal, Jaune actually did donate sizable sums toward charities; after all he wanted to run a clean operation in his city. Half of the local orphanages had been built with Valkyrie Innovation materials and Arc family dollars. And just to top it off Jaune would always stop in come Christmas time with a bag of gifts and a smile at each one.

It was something that his dad had always told him. There was a line between being a criminal and being a monster. Jaune might have supplied drug dealers and ordered death from above, but this was still his city, and he would see it was taken care of. "You bunch been giving the caregivers any trouble?"

One of the young girls in the group giggled and winked. "Tons sir."

"Atta girl," Jaune reached into his wallet and pulled out a crisp fifty dollar bill. "Go get yourselves some ice cream, and share it equally got it?"

The kids shouted their thanks before running off. Once they had gone, the limo continued its travel toward the Ash Corporation headquarters.

Pyrrha smiled a bit despite herself. Despite all of the time she spent with Jaune his actions continued to amaze her. On one hand he was the man who had ordered the deaths of plenty of people, but on the other he was the kind of person that would take off his coat to put on a homeless person. A living contradiction.

It only took a few more moments for them to arrive at the front of the Headquarters, a massive skyscraper like building that even managed to outclass those around it. Some might have called it gaudy even, but against the infinitely deep pockets of the Corporation words meant very little.

Jaune held a tight grasp on the suitcase as he stepped out, walking toward the main doors and scanning the sidewalks. Every so often he managed to spot plainclothes security operatives, noticing the way they held themselves or how their hands rested a bit too close to possible hidden weapon locations.

As soon as they passed through the doors four security people surrounded them, leading them through the large metal detectors. "Gonna need you to open the suitcase Mr. Arc." One of them stated, pointing toward the metallic case.

"Sure, but only for a second okay?" he propped the case up on his arm and opened it, revealing the contents inside to the guard, who gave a small whistle before Jaune closed it. "Don't exactly want it showing up on a security camera you know?"

The guard nodded motioned for them to hold their arms up, after which he gave them a quick pat down for any hidden weapons they might have on them. "They're clean."

"Well I would hope so; I mean, I pay for the best faucet heads in the world, if they aren't doing the job I don't think anything would." Jaune's joke got a small laugh from some of the guards, who were just average Joes with some weapons. The real guards were on the upper floors, dangerous killing machines that held zero empathy for human life.

The two moved into an elevator and brought them up fourth floors, only five away from the roof and let them out into a near empty hallway. Each door was closed save for one, where they found Roman Torchwick looking out of a window onto the ground below, two guards flanking him on either side. Between Jaune and him was a solid oak table with a bottle of wine and two beautiful glass cups. "You know what I hate about this city?" Roman said with a bitter tone to his voice. "With all of the gangs there isn't a single clansmen, not even a skin headed neo Nazi party running around trying to defend the purity of this place."

"Yeah, we cleaned that trash out of the city a long time ago," Jaune took a seat and placed the briefcase down on the table. "Back during World War two actually, German sympathizers and idiots in bed sheets, keep that shit to the South."

Roman shook his head and turned around, motioning to one of the guards so they pulled out his chair before sitting down. "And the alternatives are niggers, chinks, and terrorists mixing it up with hard working and clean people, damn shame if you ask me." Roman poured himself a glass of wine and motioned the bottle toward Jaune.

He took the bottle and looked at it for a moment. "You know, my family mostly hails from Ireland, treated about as bad as anyone with color." Jaune tossed the bottle to the side, letting it smash to the floor. "Next time stock some whiskey if you want to get me drunk."

A flash of something dangerous crossed Roman's eyes before he shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "So you are the one who wanted this meeting, hope it wasn't just to smash a bottle of fine wine."

Jaune looked toward Pyrrha, making sure that she would be ready to act at any moment. "Yes actually, it has come to my attention that you have been selling some items around the city that go against the criminal codes here."

"Oh?" Roman asked, pretending to be ignorant on the subject. "What could you mean?"

Jaune reached into his pocket and pulled out two halves of a broken disc, tossing it onto the table so Roman could see it. On the front the DVD was labeled 'kid farm 5'. "Child porn Roman, and we linked the supplies back to you."

He looked at the broken disc and pulled out a silver box from his breast pocket, grabbing a cigar and lighting it with a zippo using his other hand. "Oh yeah, that. Well, supply and demand, you know?"

It was obvious from the look Jaune was leveling toward the man there was nothing more that he wanted to do than shove the broken disc down Roman's throat, but somehow he kept himself contained. "I realize that there is a market for that, but I am going to ask for you to stop, and in return," Jaune opened the suitcase, revealing multiple white bricks stacked on top of each other. "This shit is about as pure as you can get it, cut it up a bit if you want and sell it within regulations and you will make back whatever profits you might lose."

Roman looked at the drugs for a moment, almost appearing to consider the proposition. "Interesting offer kid, but no deal."

The silence in the air could be felt for a full minute before Jaune spoke again. "This isn't worth starting a fight over Roman, you can just take the drugs, fuck I will throw in a warehouse full of small arms if you just drop that little venture in this city."

Roman took another drag and shook his head. "I don't even get why you care, most of the kids are orphaned anyway, fuck the best thing that ever happened to them was us picking them up and letting them get fucked for food."

"Going twice, Roman." Jaune said, his voice morphing into a low growl.

"The fuck do you care anyway?" the criminal asked with a bored expression. "The people who get their rocks off to these aren't your usual customers anyway."

Jaune took a deep breath, calming himself before speaking again. "Back when the city first started getting big crime was everywhere, uncontrollable, an almost literal disease. Nothing was off bounds and everyone was targeted. It was only with the crime families growing into power that order was able to be made within the underworld. Selling this shit violates the rules we build ourselves on, we don't fuck with kids."

"We are _criminals_ , do you really think some 'rules' are going to put a pause on anything we do?" Roman put out his cigar on the table. "Give me one good reason I should take your deal."

"Because you see, what you are selling is personally affecting me, can't sleep at night knowing someone as big as you is selling stuff like that, bad dreams, can't function, ask Pyrrha here." He pointed toward his Enforcer.

"It's true. Sleeping pills don't seem to help either." She idly looked down at her fingers nails, pretending to only be half paying attention to the conversation.

Roman pressed the pads of his fingers against each other and seemed to think for a minute. "I got my answer."

Jaune looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Fuck you, fuck your rules, fuck your sleeping problems, and fuck the rest of it, get out of my office and snort the shit in the briefcase until you grow a dick instead of the sloping pussy you must have in its place." Roman shook his head toward the guards, as if unable to believe Jaune's idiocy.

"I see…" Jaune turned toward Pyrrha. "So do you take that as him admitting that what he is doing is causing me harm directly?"

Pyrrha nodded a bit, her muscles tensing as she got ready to spring into action. "That is what it sounded like."

"And knowingly harming one of the leaders of the Juniper Collective allows me to freely declare war on the offender, in this case." Jaune tapped a hidden button on the top of his briefcase, causing the false cover over the top of the briefcase to slide out of the way, revealing a hidden claymore mine pointing toward Roman. "You assholes." Jaune pressed the briefcase again and the mine exploded outward, launching thousands of tiny metal balls at deadly speed toward Roman and his guards.

Before he could be hit though, Roman pressed a button at the bottom of his desk, causing a hidden trap door to open under his chair and drop him straight down. His guards however were not so lucky, and were quickly turned into corpses.

"Damn it," Jaune got up and looked toward Pyrrha, shutting the briefcase and turning toward the door. "We need to go, now."

Pyrrha nodded, reaching around and undoing her dress, allowing it to fall off of her to reveal a cat suit under it, covering her body under the dress. The cat suit had been made with a Kevlar like fabric, it could resist small arms fire easily enough, but anything bigger would punch right through. She quickly relieved one of the guards of their pistols, a 9 mm handgun with a twelve round clip. "Right, let's move."

The two made it out to the hallway, making a beeline toward the stairs before Roman could set off an alarm. Before they got far though, a single figure stepped out from one of the doors, moving into the hallway.

Standing in front of the two was one of the most feared killers in the city, wearing a white jacket with pink interior, brown pants and gray boots and a pair of combat boots designed for her small frame. Under her jacket was black corset, curved in the middle of the bottom, exposing her hips. Around her neck were a number of necklaces, dog tags, and other trophies from previous victims. Her hair was dyed a deep brown on one side, and bubblegum pink on the other. In her hands she held a parasol, and on her face was a wicked smile. It was a smile that promised bloodshed.

"Get behind me!" Pyrrha pushed Jaune behind her and took aim at the small woman, opening fire with the pistol she had liberated from the dead guard.

Neo charged forward toward the gunfire, opening her parasol toward the bullets. Instead of normal fabric covering the opening of the parasol, there were instead bits of metal that the bullets struck against harmlessly. Once she was a step away Neo grabbed the base of the parasol and shoved it toward Pyrrha, revealing a hidden blade within it.

Pyrrha stepped back to avoid being hit by the discarded front of the parasol, but couldn't bring her weapon up in time to prevent Neo from closing the remaining distance, slashing with her thin blade toward the red haired assassin. The blade struck the hand Pyrrha was holding the weapon in, drawing blood and causing the weapon to fall behind her.

Without missing a beat though, Pyrrha kicked the smaller woman back, causing Neo to lose balance for a moment before trying to continue her attack with martial arts. However the smaller woman dodged every blow, and landed even more glancing blows, drawing more blood with an ever present smile. Despite her best efforts Pyrrha didn't have a weapon, and Neo could keep a safe enough distance to avoid being hit.

Suddenly Neo came in and performed a sweep on Pyrrha's legs, causing her to fall on her back, a curse springing from her lips. Neo came forward to finish the job and plunge her blade into the fallen woman, but three shots rang out from in front of her, lifting the small woman off her feet and knocking her to the ground.

"Bullseye," Jaune said, holding the fallen weapon in his hands with a grin. "Man I am awesome."

Pyrrha jumped up and gave her boss a small nod before grabbing the gun. "Proper gun handling, come on we have to go."

The two made a mad sprint toward the stairs, running up three stairs at a time as they made their way toward the roof, the guards being always just one step behind them as they flooded into the staircase. Within a handful of minutes the two got to the roof, Pyrrha blowing off the handle of the door so they could make it through. Once on the roof the two made their way to the ledge, turning toward the guards who had made their way up.

"End of the line!" Roman said, coming out after the last guard, holding his left side with a pained look. The trapdoor must have deposited him pretty hard to wherever it led. "Nowhere left to run."

Jaune sighed and nodded his head. "Yeah, and to be honest just that running made me tired, so I doubt I could run again."

Roman smirked, watching his men take aim at the two. "Any last words before you become another stain on the concrete?"

"Well, not so much on words, but can I do a little song for you through?" Jaune smirked and suddenly from behind him a booming orchestral sting began to play. "Ride of the Valkyries, you like it?" from behind the crime boss a helicopter rose, its door opening to reveal a woman holding a rather large looking machine gun aimed directly toward the Roman and his men. The gun went off and tore into the stone between the two.

"You miserable fuck." Roman said, dodging back into the building to avoid further fire.

"Any of you move and you get to learn what it feels like to leak out of holes you didn't have before." Jaune and Pyrrha stepped into the helicopter, having it take off away from the building.

"That was so awesome!" Jaune was suddenly wrapped into a powerful hug by none other than his orange haired and hyper business partner Nora, who had placed the large machine gun that had managed to save the day against the now closed door.

"Yeah, uh Nora do you have…" Jaune's face began to turn a sickly shade of green.

"At the seat." Nora pointed, letting go of Jaune.

With a nod of his head Jaune grabbed a small brown bag and began to let the contents of his stomach loose into it.

"And just like that we are now at war with the Ash Corporation." Pyrrha looked out the window at the building. "The next step is…"

"We have a meeting with the Rose family tomorrow." A voice rang out from the cockpit. Sitting in the pilot's seat was Lie Ren, whose eyes were focused on the sky.

Jaune looked up from his bag. "You can fly?"

"Do you really think I wouldn't hire a lawyer who could fly a helicopter?" Nora asked a sly smile on her face.

"Point, well let's get back home and get ready for tomorrow." Jaune said, trying to sound leaderly. It lasted about as long as it took for him to return to the bag.

The other three shared a quick laugh at their leader's suffering. They might now be at war, but they weren't any different.

Even with the storm, they would be ready.

* * *

Roman sighed and walked down the hallway toward his office, wondering just how much more bomb based misfortune he would have to deal with in the future. He had just gotten off of a call to his boss, who gave him his orders in quite a clear fashion. Destroy whoever stood in their way, and damn the cost. Another step brought his foot down on the fallen Neo's arm, causing Roman to look down. "Get up you lazy bitch, we have work to do."

For a moment nothing happened, but slowly Neo rose to her feet, putting a hand against her stomach and pulling away three flattened bullets, dropping them to the ground. A twisted smile came to her face as she fell into line with Roman.

Getting ready for war.


	7. Storm Front

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content within this chapter may be disturbing for all ages. If you have a weak stomach or are simply the kind of person who has to turn off the t.v. during more horrid news stories I would greatly recommend finding another story. This fic is rated M for mature, and there is a reason for that. Enjoy.

 

For every unique thing that makes Vale different from an average city there are things that share similar blood with other large cities. The most depressing of which are the slums, the kind of area where a scream is a call to put something heavy in front of the door and hope that it passes. The police are largely useless due to corruption, and even the three largest gangs are unable to fully take control of the area, despite it playing a strategic role for any criminal operations. This is due to a number of factors, the two largest of which are the rights to the land and the various small gangs that make the area their home. The rights to the area are a largely contested issue due to a sale on the land that had taken place years ago, a sale that had gone on three times with three different buyers. By the time the issue had gotten to court with the backstabbing and maneuvers by the three buyers the area was less then worthless, and would in fact cost more for them to own due to the mass decay of the various structures. Even selling the area to the city would bring money out of the 'owners' wallet since they would be marked as the one responsible for the land in the first place. The pathetic amount of rent that is sent in by those who can't afford to live anywhere else is sent to a joint account and split between the three owners until such a time as the debate is solved. The minor gangs also made it an issue, typically making it dangerous for more powerful Mafia families to move in without accidentally starting a war.

Of course that wasn't to say that the slums went unused, rather the business conducted there was kept to a more private nature. Temporary bases filled with burner phones and unmarked cash filled the area, with whatever minor gang had the most strength being cut a small portion of the larger pie to keep the buildings unlooted and untouched. It also made a perfect area for dealers of all kinds to peddle their wares to regular customers, keeping the harder drugs away from the more controlled dealings within the city proper.

But one building stood as the exception to the rule, a grimy but standing hotel that always seemed to have a few people coming in and out of it, always well equipped and trained. The lesser gangs in the area knew to stay well away from the place, and the few who knew what happened inside would always get pissed about it if brought up.

Outside of this very building was a blonde haired man calmly dragging off a cigarette, blowing a long trail of smoke into the air and watching it dissipate. He was well dressed and groomed, the very definition of high class and it was easy to see that he stuck out among the broken roads and dead architecture.

A man from inside the building stepped out and tapped his watch. "Smoke breaks over, if you don't get your ass behind the camera you can forget about your payment." the man went back inside with a few curses under his breath, mostly targeted toward the mans starkly Asian features.

The blonde man dropped is smoke to the ground and crushed it underheel with a low sigh. "No respect for the artist, go figure." he walked into the building and carefully stepped around a bit of fallen ceiling that had landed on the floor, taking the stairs up to the third level to avoid the death trap of an elevator. Once on the floor he made his way to a door at the end of the hall, opening it up to find a single bed surrounded by lighting equipment, a camera, and a small crew he had brought along with him. There were of course a few other hard faced men carrying guns at their belts, but they were background to the work that happened here. "So what are we shooting today?" the man had a well practiced smile on his face.

One of the men sneered at him and answered with a single word. "Snuff."

"Ah, I see," he paused for a moment to go over and check his camera. "I would have thought you would keep them for more then a week, seems like a bit of a waste don't you think?"

The man glared at him and spat to the side. "You ain't paid to think, just stick to behind the camera and get paid."

The blonde man simply raised a thumb to the goon and fiddled with his camera. "I assume we will be shooting a few last scenes with the subject then?"

Before he could be answered the door opened again, with two men entering into the hotel room, each holding tight to a thick rope, which was attached to a collar around a small girls neck. From her face and figure she couldn't have been more then ten, and from how sunken in her eyes were it was obvious that she hadn't seen a proper meal in days. She had been put into what had probably once been a rather lovely blue dress, but with the grime that clung to the building like a disease it had been slowly rotted until it was less of a dress and more of a loosely hanging bit of fabric that hung off her ebony skin.

The girl was taken to the bed, the fight long since beaten out of her, she looked to the camera with dead eyes and simply stared with the look of someone who was no longer mentally there. A few minutes later a portly man wearing a towel around his legs entered the room, a bright smile on his lips. "He always gives me the sloppy seconds, not that I mind but for once you think he would throw a new princess for me to break in, eh?" he looked about the room and found mostly neutral faces. "Ah buck up, you all get paid to be here don't you?"

The blonde haired man smiled and put a hand on the fat mans shoulder. "Oh don't let the mood of the room get to you, just do whats scripted and you will be fine."

"Oh yeah, about that," the fat man scratched the back of his head. "I know its supposed to be a quick thing, but mind if I drag it out a bit? Not much fun after its over you know?"

"Do what feels natural so long as it ends on the same beat. You know how the employer is about the finish." the man stepped behind the camera while the lights got adjusted and the fat man took his place, towel dropped to the side as he got above the girl.

"Action." the blonde haired man shouted, and instantly the fat mans hands went around the girls neck as a sick smile came over his lips, showing rotted teeth and browning gums. He began to shake the girl by the throat, finally causing her to struggle as she was unable to breath.

Before it could advance any further however a piercing noise broke out through the room, the source of which came from the blonde haired camera man, who yelled out "Cut!" before pulling out his phone. "Sorry this is super important or I wouldn't interrupt, just five seconds promise." he opened the flip phone and brought it to his ear. "Hey whats up, a bit busy right now."

* * *

It was rare that rival mafia groups met, mainly due to the fact that most meetings between any of the families tended to end in violence. Most of them also started in violence, and on a rare day there would be some manner of communication between these two events. With this knowledge the young heir to the Rose family and her half sister/bodyguard were both a bit more then anxious for the meeting that had been asked for by the current head of the Juniper Collective. The only saving grace was that they had been allowed by the code that kept the city from utter war to choose the location of the meetings. So they sat in one of the executive board rooms within the Schnee Company headquarters.

"So school, is everything still going okay?" Yang looked down at her sister with a warm smile. "Any cute boys or girls I need to scare away from my sister?"

Ruby pulled a face at the implication. "Yang we both know darn well that if anyone had a crush on me you would have their entire history and a list full of ways to make them disappear without me ever noticing."

In reply Yang stuck her tongue out but didn't deny the accusation. Before a full blown argument between the sisters could break out the door opened to reveal Blake, still dressed to the nines from her latest day in court. "I see you two are as mature as ever," she took a seat to the left of Ruby just as Yang stood to her right.

Following in Blake were three figures, Weiss and her two bodyguards, Sun and Neptune. As soon as Sun's eyes caught onto Blake's presence a grin broke out on his face and he pulled a rose from behind his back, offering it to her. "Well aren't we a sight for sore eyes, I mean not that my eyes are anything other then blessed when looking at you."

The entire room groaned at Sun's pick up line, but Blake merely gave a laugh and took the flower. "How sweet of you to steal this from the lobby for me." her tone was dry but the hint of a smile played at her lips.

"Well I figure that my boss pays for the best, so that must mean that any flower from the outside would fail to make a godo enough present." Sun replied quickly and without missing a single beat in the exchange.

"His logic isn't flawed," Yang added with a barely suppressed grin. "I bet each petal was personally spit shined by at least one intern."

"One intern?" Weiss took her own seat to Ruby's right. "What company do you take this for, Apple?"

Sun leaned forward a bit toward Blake and gave her one of his best smiles. "Whats say after this meeting you and I fly to Hawaii and have a repeat of last year?"

"I would have to pass, mainly because as I remember it Hawaii was one night of great sex followed by two days of you bowed over in a bathroom with food poisoning."

Sun chuckled a bit and looked around with an embarrassed smile. "Yeah, but I didn't hear any complaints about night one."

"As interesting as the sexual history of my bodyguards is please return to your position before I charge you for the flower you just took, with interest." Weiss's words were laced with a bit of humor, but her face was utterly serious as she looked toward the blonde haired man.

Sun gave a wink before returning to Weiss's side, standing beside Neptune and lazily leaning against the wall.

Ruby cleared her throat and tried to keep the blush that was was attempting to rise at the exchange down. "How much longer before they get here?"

As if in answer the door opened once more, revealing Jaune and Pyrrha, both dressed in their best. For Jaune that meant a suit and a slightly crooked tie, and for Pyrrha it meant a practical but elegant red dress, the very picture of beauty. She stepped ahead of Jaune and pulled out his chair, allowing him to seat before taking her own position behind him. "Ladies." Jaune smiled and reached forward on the table to pour himself a glass of water. "Long time no see."

The room remained quiet, with all eyes on Jaune as he raised the glass of water he had poured himself. "To the code." he drained the plastic cup and put it to the side. With the traditional declaration of nonviolence put forth the room seemed to relax a bit. If one declared for the code to be recognized and then were to perform an act of hostility it would be recognized for an insult and could be acted upon within the boundaries of their code.

Ruby leaned forward and kept her eyes on Jaune, as if just by looking at him she would be able to gleam every hint of his mind. "So you were the one who called the meeting, whats up?"

"Oh, well I was wondering if your family would join me in exterminating the Ash Corporation." with those words spoken the entire room once again took on an unnatural silence.

* * *

There were very few things in Vale that could still be considered strange by the people who lived there. Open gang warfare, a mafia boss who was more honest then most millionaires, and entire school districts untouched by any drug harder then weed despite the massive amount of criminal activity. These odd sights were almost doubled in the slums, where any number of horrors could be witnessed each day.

But very little prepared people for the sight of a woman who looked to have stepped right off a runway with a suitcase walking besides two Asian men who were practically opposites of each other, a giant of a man with short black hair and casual clothing and a shorter man who looked like he was pulled from a action flick with a good budget, bright red hair slicked back with product and black glasses covering his eyes. "Its a shame we couldn't have Velvet here with us, she would probably love this kind of deal." the well dressed woman gave a loud and overly dramatic sigh as she stepped toward the house that even gang leaders would stay away from.

"We could take pictures, she might get a kick out of this...the word escapes me, how would you describe these people Yatsuhashi?" the Asian man turned in the direction of the giant of a man, but didn't seem to be looking at him.

"Monsters." that single word was spat from his mouth like dirt. "Or dogs."

"Shit that makes us animal control doesn't it?" the smaller man laughed as they stopped on the threshold of the building, tilting his head to the side as the door to the building opened.

The man who came out of it looked like a typical street thug, with a gun tucked into the wasteband of his belt and a few chains around his neck. "What the f-" the words caught in his throat when he saw the woman in front of the two men, suddenly putting away the 'badass killer' and putting on a 'ladies man' persona. "Well fuck don't see many fine women like you around here."

"How odd that women don't flock for miles to be complimented by a man like you," a single quirked eyebrow was offered to the man with with a small smile.

The thinly veiled sarcasm flew right over the thug's head, who gave a laugh before shaking his head. "Much as I would love to stand here and look at your fine ass body I am gonna have to ask you and the Chong brothers over here to get."

"Oh, is that so?" the woman asked with a small laugh. Before she could say anything else a soft tone sang through the air. "My phone, a moment please." she snapped her fingers and the larger man reached into his pocket and placed said phone against her ear. "Yes?"

* * *

"Are you fucking insane?" the words left Neptune's mouth before he could fully comprehend himself saying them, and the attention it drew to the bodyguard was enough to make even him feel uncomfortable.

"I mean, how sane is anyone here really?" Jaune tried to cut the tension with a joke, but it was obvious that the delivery of it was flat at best. "Man tough crowd."

Ruby was the first to regain her composure, leaning forward as if just by giving him a once over she would be able to fully understand what Jaune's game was. "You realize declaring war on another family is against basically every rule in the entire book."

Pyrrha cleared her throat and looked toward Blake. "Ms. Belladonna, I believe we need you to clear some light for the rest of those assembled here, as to what reasons a proper hunt can be called on a family."

Blake shot a glare at being given an order by the woman but kept her calm and pulled out a rather thick book she had kept on her lap. With one movement she turned to a page closer to the back of the book. "All families who grow large enough to be recognized as a proper controlling influence are given protections under the laws so long as all observations are made to the rules of governing that separate the true Mafia's of this city from the pollution of the rest of the world. If any five of the lesser rules are broken then the protections of these binding rules will no longer protect a family regardless of their benefactors. And a single break of the founding code means a blood hunt can be called to keep the honor of all families within the city."

"Blood Hunt huh?" Yang's eyes flashed with a bit of excitement despite the situation. "Sounds like my kind of party."

Weiss took a sip of water from her own cup and looked toward Jaune. "Of course you would need to provide proof of the five infractions before we could begin to have a-"

"I accuse the Ash Corporation of breaking one of the three cardinal rules of the contract of the families." Jaune declared, cutting off Weiss and bringing another silence as the weight of the words was processed through the minds of the four women.

"Holy shit." Yang muttered under her breath, taking a good look at Jaune. "You don't do anything by halves do you Arc?"

Ruby raised a hand to silence any further talking, looking at Jaune with a steely gaze. Gone was the young woman who happily attended high school and made easy friends. Now sitting in that girls place was the boss of the Rose Family, who had exterminated threats to the city her father had tended to ever since she had learned to properly read. "I want to hear exactly what you are accusing them of. No sugar coating."

Without a word Jaune snapped his fingers and had Pyrrha place a dvd case in his hands and then putting it on the table, sliding it over to her without a single word. "Go ahead and open it up, the title should be enough."

The young womans hand paused as she reached for the case, but regardless powered through and opened it. The disk was plain, a burner that anyone could buy at a store, with a title etched on in marker. 'Kindergarten Playhouse- Black, Hispanic, Whites'

"Holy shit." Sun muttered under his breath, connecting the title to the crime that Jaune was accusing the corporation of.

"Honor among thieves, really our rules are nothing more then putting what has always been a concept among people like us into writing," Jaune carefully cast his gaze at Ruby. "There are certain lines we don't cross, because once we cross them nothing is off limits. No chemical weapons. That shit is so easy even piss brained politicians can figure it out." there was no hint of a joke in his words. "No attacks on religion. We are criminals not fucking jihads getting to pick and choose that shit. And the biggest rule written in the blood of our two families when we agreed to divide this city like a pie. The same rule that was signed by the Ash Corporation when we all realized how fucked the city would be if we went to war."

"We don't FUCK WITH KIDS." Jaune slammed his fist down into the table hard enough that the wood cracked. "We don't sell hard drugs, we don't recruit child soldiers, we don't sell arms and we don't FUCKING PIMP OUT KIDS!"

Ruby winced at those last words and looked back to Yang, who was biting down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. A look to Weiss showed a cold outer shell, but the nails biting into her hands left trickles of red down pale skin. Even Blake who was known for her muted emotions was visibly furious.

It was all that the young woman could do to speak out the next words. "You can provide proof of their connection to this?"

Jaune grew silent for a moment, as if examining each word the girl had given as a response. "If I did, if I gave you proof as to what is happening will I have the backing on the Rose family in this?"

Another silence, and then a simple answer. "Yes."

Jaune gave a slow nod. "One phone call, and I will give you all the proof you need."

Ruby looked to Yang and motioned for her to let the leader of the Juniper Collective have her phone to borrow, as his would have been taken at the front desk to prevent any foul play. Once he had the phone in hand Jaune dialed in two numbers and opened a conference call. "Leave enough to question. The rest just take care of." he hung up the phone and placed it in the center of the table. "And now, we wait."

* * *

The fashionable young woman smiled at the man in front of her before driving her knee directly into his groin, stepping back as he doubled over before delivering a powerful slam to the back of his head with her suitcase. In almost the exact same moment the smaller Asian man pulled a gun from his side and fired down the road at two young men who had gone for their guns the second the woman had struck.

"Damn Fox, as on the point as ever for someone as blind as you," the woman opened the suitcase and revealed a sawed off shotgun, tossing the weapon to Yatsuhashi with a mad laugh as she retrieved her own pistols, both polished and gleaming in the light.

"And I will never understand why you don't get in bed with me Coco, the many mysteries of the world." he aimed his gun at the door of the building and fired four times. After a seconds wait a man tumbled out of the door with bullet wounds. \

"Our orders are to retrieve any kids and to kill each stupid child fucking bitch in this place. Top to bottom I don't want a single one alive." Coco stepped forward and drove her designer boot directly into the skull of the fallen mook, stepping aside so the sawed off shotgun could send a particularly stupid goon with a knife flying.

"Yes ma'am!" both men answered in cheerful tones as they went about their bloody work.

* * *

The sounds of the shots from downstairs instantly put the crew of the 'film' on edge, some reaching for their weapons in reactive fear. But they were so worried about the threat from downstairs none of them noticed that the camera man who had joined them two weeks ago had lost his trademark smile, or that the wig that covered his raven hair had been pulled off. They did however notice the sudden blinding flash that left those in the room blinking rapidly and pulling out their weapons, many dropping them to the ground in haste.

For those who could still hear anything the first scream came from one of the people that had been helping the camera man with his duties. For those who could see past the stars in their eyes they would notice that his neck had been carved open and was leaking blood like a broken fire hydrant. The next death was by a broken neck, a single movement that showed that despite the small stature of the man he possessed an insane amount of strength.

Then as the pain of the flash died down people were able to see their deaths come in a more personal way. The former camera man held a wicked looking knife already stained in red and sporting a smile from out of a slasher movie. His skin and hair had been painted by the gushing of the fallen, and the coloring grew only more as he cut down man after man, dancing between them before they could so much as raise a single hand against him.

It was impossible to describe his actions as fighting, it was a dance of death where each new partner was laid low by a powerful strike. The floor grew sticky with blood and grew heavy with the smell of death, but the wide smile of the dancer never lost its shine, even when there was very little of him that wasn't covered in blood. "Brings me back to my youth," he finally spoke in a conversational matter, sleeking back his hair with the blood of the fallen, turning to look at the fat man who was hiding behind his former victim to be.

"D-don't kill me, I have money, powerful friends, I can get you anything you want!" the mans voice no longer held any level of arrogance, now he was just a naked fat man sitting above a pool of blood.

The smiling man took a step forward and the fat man shit himself in fear, grabbing the little girls neck with crazed eyes. "If you take another step I will break the sluts fucking neck I swear!"

The smiling man paused for a moment and considered that. "Little girl, if it meant I could kill the man behind you, would you terribly mind dying?"

The girls eyes went wide and tears came to her face, but despite that she gave a shake of her head and shut her eyes quickly.

"Fuck!" the fat man tried to push the girl aside as if he could somehow charge past the smiling ghoul in front of him, standing only to slip and fall face first into the pool of human waste and blood on the ground, crying pathetic tears and looking up with snot and blood falling off his face. "Don't kill me, please, please I want to-"

Before he could finish the man slammed his knife into the fat mans hand and drove it down into the floor with his shoe, forcing a wail out of the man that sounded utterly inhuman. "Little girl, the exit is through that door. I have some friends coming who will take you somewhere nice." the raven haired killer pulled a lollipop from his coat, carefully protected from the blood and offered it to her before tussling her hair. "Go on you little scamp, me and this fatso have lots to talk about."

The little girl looked up with her dead eyes, but still a few tears that had remained unshed fell loose as she threw her arms around the bloodsoaked man. "T-thank you." she muttered, running from the room and not looking back.

The man stepped over to the camera equipment and leveled the device down at the fatter man. "My name is Ren, and you are going to answer a few questions for my friends, but to make sure you are telling the truth I am going to have to hurt you for a bit." he took off his jacket, revealing a number of different cutting instruments hidden in various sheaths. He laid said jacket on the bed before choosing a blade with serrated teeth. "But first I am going to hurt you quite a bit. Not for the information, but because I don't like you. Now-" he bent down on a knee and gripped the mans good hand, putting the blade between fingers. "Smile for the camera."

* * *

Yang's phone went off in the center of the table, and after receiving permission from Ruby's side of the table Jaune hit the answer button and put it on speaker. "That took longer then expected."

"You know in some cultures people say hello when opening a conversation," Ren's voice came from the other end, carrying a tone of sarcasm with it.

Jaune offered a roll of his eyes before speaking once more. "Well, do we have it?"

There was silence on the other end before a high pitched voice came through. "I told him everything, Roman Torchwick hired us to make the movies, they always go to that building first. Please just tell him to stop."

"I have ensured he isn't lying. The children are being picked up as we speak and will be moved out of the city and to the safehouses. Coco said the bill would be in the mail by the end of the week." Ren's tone was now devoid of humor, a pure neutral sound.

"Thank you Ren, please tie up the loose ends for me will you?" the sound of a single shot rang out over the connection. "Please have all documented evidence sent to the Rose building."

"Indeed." the call ended, leaving the two groups looking toward each other.

"Well?" Jaune asked.

Ruby stood up and walked around the table to the still sitting Jaune, examining him. "People are going to die you know. People we like, we might even lose."

"Yeah, yeah I thought of that too." Jaune stood up as well and looked toward the leader of the Rose family, his equal in all but height.

For a moment silence, and then a smile broke out on Ruby's face. "Lets make sure they die first." she offered a hand to him.

Jaune took it, and from that point the future was sealed.

There would be war.


End file.
